Thomas Noel (historian)

Noel won a Colorado Book Award in 1997 among numerous other awards. Noel leads walking, railroading, and motor-coach tours for various groups including The Colorado Historical Society and The Smithsonian. He chaired the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission and served as a National Register reviewer for Colorado.

Thomas Jacob Noel, (born 6 May 1945 in Boston, Massachusetts) often introduced in media interviews as Dr. Colorado, is an American historian specializing in the history of the Rocky Mountain West, and especially of the state of Colorado. He is a professor of history at the University of Colorado at Denver, where he teaches classes in the history of the American West, Colorado, Denver, historic preservation, mining and railroads, national parks, and Western art and architecture. He is the co-author or author of more than fifty books, numerous articles, and newspaper columns. He is the director of the Center for Colorado Studies at the Denver Public Library. The center provides many resources for students including Colorado books, book reviews, short-documentaries, as well as Native American, Hispanic, and other resource guides.

Born in Boston on May 6, 1945, Noel is a graduate of the University of Denver (B.A. history and M.A. library science). He received an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Colorado Boulder. His mother (a psychiatrist) and grandmother (a teacher) also received their graduate degree from the University of Colorado Boulder. His early work experience included part-time jobs such as a Christmas card salesman, gardener, paperboy, bus boy, soda jerk, pool hall attendant, life guard, swim instructor, library page, writer, dude ranch roustabout, Colorado Historical Society tour guide, and photo librarian.