Thomas H Keels

Thomas H. Keels is an auslander, sociologist E. Digby Baltzell's term for an outsider who moves to Philadelphia and falls in love with its rich heritage. Since moving to Philadelphia in 1988, Tom has written five books dealing with local history: Wicked Philadelphia; Forgotten Philadelphia: Lost Architecture of the Quaker City; Philadelphia Graveyards and Cemeteries; Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square (with Robert Morris Skaler); and Chestnut Hill (with Liz Jarvis). His next book, Rainbow Cities...See more

Thomas H. Keels is an auslander, sociologist E. Digby Baltzell's term for an outsider who moves to Philadelphia and falls in love with its rich heritage. Since moving to Philadelphia in 1988, Tom has written five books dealing with local history: Wicked Philadelphia; Forgotten Philadelphia: Lost Architecture of the Quaker City; Philadelphia Graveyards and Cemeteries; Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square (with Robert Morris Skaler); and Chestnut Hill (with Liz Jarvis). His next book, Rainbow Cities: Philadelphia's Three World's Fairs, will be published in 2012. Tom is a regular contributor to the Rittenhouse Sq. Revue and also contributes features to Creatively Speaking on WRTI-FM. A self-proclaimed taphophile, he has been a tour guide at Laurel Hill, Philadelphia's premier Victorian cemetery, for over a decade. See less