Researching James Thompson

Born to a Dutch reform minister's family in Pella, Iowa, Thompson received an undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in 1892 and a PhD in history from the newly founded University of Chicago in 1895. Thompson remained at Chicago as a professor of history until 1933, when he left for the University of California, Berkeley. He remained at Berkeley until his death in 1941.

Thompson was one of the most prolific academics of his generation and wrote on a wide range of subjects, from the French Revolution to the economic structures of the Carolingian Empire to the history of espionage in early modern Europe. Some of his most important scholarly contributions came from his research on literacy and book collecting. His 1939 book The Literacy of the Laity in the Middle Ages remains a classic study of the subject. Thompson's two-volume study of the social and economic history of medieval Germany, Feudal Germany, appropriated elements of Frederick Jackson Turner's famous Frontier Thesis and applied them to the colonization of Slavic central Europe by German settlers in the Middle Ages.

Thompson served as president of the American Historical Association in 1941, but died before completing his term. His planned presidential address to the Association's annual meeting on the origins of critical historical scholarship in eighteenth-century France was edited by his students and published posthumously in the 1942 edition of the American Historical Review.

He is the namesake of the University of Chicago's Thompson Residence Hall, located in Pierce Tower.

Thompson was married to Anna Hawes Wilmarth (1873–1935) in 1897. They had a son, Wilmarth, and an adopted daughter, Frances. They divorced in 1909. Anna later married Harold L. Ickes.

Thompson was an art collector and was a particular admirer of British watercolours. To allow the public to view his collection, he built the Turner House Gallery, named after artist Joseph Turner, in Penarth in 1887. It opened to the public in 1888. He also gave thousands of pounds to both Cardiff's Municipal Museum and National Museum. The Thompson family carried on his philanthropic work after his death and the Turner House gallery was donated to the National Museum in 1921. In 1924 the land surrounding the family house in Canton, Cardiff was also presented to the city; it was renamed Thompson's Park.

Thompson was born in Scotland and in the early 1920s moved to Canada, where he started training in swimming at the Toronto YMCA club. In 1928 the Canadian Olympic Committee selected him for the Olympics as a fourth team member, but could sponsor only three swimmers. Thompson, a machinist by profession, had modest incomes and had to seek sponsors to attend the Games. Later he initiated a government-sponsored swimming program for poor, and between 1932 and 1966 worked as the head coach of the Hamilton Aquatic Club. He was named Hamilton's Citizen of the Year in 1959, Canada's Swimming Coach of the Year in 1964, and was inducted into the Hamilton Sports and Ontario Aquatic Halls of Fame. Hamilton's Jimmy Thompson Memorial Swimming Pool carried his name. He died of cancer in 1966.

His daughter Patty also became Olympic swimmer, whereas his son Robert competed in water polo.

Thompson retired as a professional rower on 4 February 2017 after competing at the Rock the Boat regatta at Roodeplaat Dam.

Helsinki Noir was published by Akashic Books November 2014. It is an anthology edited by Thompson and it includes one story he wrote.

Thompson died unexpectedly in his home town of Lahti, Finland in August 2014.

Thompson was born in Mobile, Alabama. He moved to Florida in 1945 with his family, and later attended Florida State University, earning a law degree. He is an attorney. He served in the Florida House of Representatives in the 10th district from November 5, 1974 to November 2, 1982 and the 8th district from November 2, 1982 to November 4, 1986. From 1985 to 1986, he was Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

He was born in Fintona, County Tyrone, to postmaster William Thompson and Jane Jeffries. His date of birth is uncertain: his parliamentary biography lists him as born in 1832, which would make him aged at his death, while the notice of his death lists his age as 72, which would mean he was born in . His family migrated to Australia around 1836. He worked as a licensed surveyor, and on 11 February 1861 married Margaret Catherine Carroll; they would have twelve children. In 1877 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Queanbeyan, serving until his resignation in 1881, to accept an appointment as a railway land valuer. He was made bankrupt in 1884.

Thompson died at Ryde in 1901.

He won a bronze medal at the 1926 World Table Tennis Championships in the men's team event. He was captain of this inaugural Championship England team and used a rubber racket.

He won the West of England Championships in 1908, made his debut against Wales in 1923 and won the inaugural Daily Mirror British title in May 1923 at Selfridges in London, and played in the Bristol league (one of the earliest clubs in the world).