Francis M. Carroll ’60 has made tremendous and insightful contributions to the field of history with his focus on the diplomatic history of Ireland, U.S.–Canada relations, intelligence organizations, and Carlton County, Minnesota. Through his extensive research of original historical documents, Carroll plowed new ground regarding Irish independence and the role of the United States. Carroll’s contributions to the local history of Carlton County cannot go unnoticed; his books, articles, and presentations have all contributed underrepresented material to the field and have introduced many people in the area to local history.
Carroll graduated from Carleton in 1960 with a major in English and a minor in history. He then earned a master’s in American studies in 1962 from the University of Minnesota and a PhD in 1969 from Trinity College at Dublin University in Ireland, where he completed his thesis, “American Opinion on the Irish Question, 1910–1923.” He ascended through the academic ranks at several universities and colleges in the U.S. and Canada, achieving the rank of Professor of History at the University of Manitoba from 1986 to 1998. He was the recipient of several special academic appointments in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Britain and the US, the most recent of which was the John J. Burns Library Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies at Boston College in 2010.
He has published thirteen books, including The Fires of Autumn: The Cloquet-Moose Lake Disaster of 1918 (1990) and Athenia Torpedoed: The U-Boat Attack that Ignited the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII (2012). He is also the author of numerous essays, articles, and scholarly papers, in addition to more than 25 public lectures. Carroll has been the recipient of around twenty academic grants, awards, and prizes, including two in 2001–02: the Albert B. Corey Prize from the American and Canadian Historical Associations and the John Wesley Dafoe Prize from the J.W. Dafoe Foundation for his book A Good and Wise Measure: The Search for the Canadian–American Boundary, 1783–1842. His most recent book, America and the Making of An Independent Ireland, was published in 2021. He presently is a member of American and Canadian Historical Societies, as well as the Carlton County Historical Society.