Historian Biographies

Speakers & Historians:

Paige Gibbons Backus 

A native of Wisconsin, Paige Gibbons Backus graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a bachelor’s degree in Historic Preservation, and George Mason University with a master’s degree in Applied History. She has been in the public history field for close to ten years focusing on educational programming and operations working at several historic sites throughout Northern Virginia including Gadsby’s Tavern Museum, Sully Historic Site, and Ben Lomond Historic Site. She currently serves Prince William County as the Historic Site Manager at Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre (a 19th-century courthouse and jail complex) and Lucasville School (an African American schoolhouse). When out of the office, Paige spends her time serving on the board of the Virginia Association of Museums, exploring, being outdoors, or researching her interests which include women’s history, as well as the more morbid side of history such as death, disease, medicine, and murder. Her published works include Witness to Peace and Strife: The History of Ben Lomond in Manassas, Virginia, as well as numerous articles published for a variety of publications such as Emerging Civil War, Virginia Association of Museum’s Voice Magazine, Civil War Traveler, and Prince William Living.

William R. “Billy” Griffith IV

William R. Griffith IV is a full-time Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide and an author/historian for Emerging Revolutionary War. He received his BA in History from Shepherd University in 2014, and MA in Military History from Norwich University in 2018. He is the author of The Battle of Lake George: England’s First Triumph in the French and Indian War (The History Press, 2016) and A Handsome Flogging: The Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778 (Savas Beatie, 2020).

Kate Egner Gruber

Kate Egner Gruber is the special exhibition curator for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Williamsburg, Virginia. Gruber earned her B.A. in historic preservation and classical humanities at the University of Mary Washington before receiving an M.A. in early American history from The College of William and Mary. She also holds a certificate in early American history, museum studies, and material culture from the National Institute of American History and Democracy. Gruber enjoys developing exhibitions on a wide range of topics in early American history at Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. She currently serves as Vice President of the Virginia Forum and sits on the State Historical Records Advisory Board. Kate has contributed to the Emerging Revolutionary War blog and Encyclopedia Virginia.

Owen Lourie

Owen Lourie is a historian at the Maryland State Archives, where he joined the staff in 2003. He has conducted and supervised research on a wide array of topics relating to Maryland history, specializing in the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Early Federal eras, as well as the operations and members of the state's government. Since 2013, he has been the project director of Finding the Maryland 400, a collaboration with the Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, studying the soldiers who saved the Continental Army at the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776.

Owen earned a B.A. in American Studies from Kenyon College in 2005, and an M.A. in history, with a concentration in public history, from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2012.

Dr. Chris Mackowski

Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War. He is the series editor of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series, published by Savas Beatie, and the “Engaging the Civil War” Series, published in partnership with Southern Illinois University Press. Chris is a professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NY, and historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield in central Virginia. He has also worked as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he gives tours at four major Civil War battlefields (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania), as well as at the building where Stonewall Jackson died. Chris has authored or co-authored a dozen books on the Civil War, and his articles have appeared in all the major Civil War magazines. Chris serves on the national advisory board for the Civil War Chaplains Museum in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Mark Maloy 

Mark Maloy’s decade-long career in public history and archaeology has seen him explore and interpret many pivotal sites from our country’s first centuries — from Pocahontas’s village at Werowocomoco to his current Park Service posting at the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which administers Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial. He holds an undergraduate degree in History from the College of William and Mary and a graduate degree in History from George Mason University. A native of Alexandria, Virginia, his interest in history was sparked by visiting George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate as a child. He is an avid Civil War and Revolutionary War reenactor and living historian. An active contributor to the Emerging Revolutionary War Era community, he is the author of the book, "Victory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton."

Anne Gillespie Mitchell

Anne Gillespie Mitchell has been at Ancestry for eleven years on products including Ancestry Library, AncestryK12 and most recently the Civil War Stories Project. She has taught genealogy courses at many national conferences including NGS, FGS and RootsTech and SLIG as well as multiple online Ancestry Academy courses. Anne has a MS degree in Computer Science from Purdue University, where she also taught Computer Science for 8 years.

Kristopher D. White

Kris is a senior education manager at the American Battlefield Trust. White is a graduate of Norwich University with an M.A. in Military History, as well as a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in History. For nearly five years he served as a historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. White is the co-founder of Emerging Civil War and is also the co-creator of the Engaging the Civil War Series, which is a partnership between Southern Illinois University Press and Emerging Civil War. An award-winning speaker and editor, White has authored, co-authored, or edited nearly two-dozen books; and he frequently leads tours in the United States and abroad.