John T. (John Thomas) Short

Born in 1850 and associated with Columbus, Ohio, he was an American historian and educator. Contemporary reference pages identify him as a professor of history at Ohio State University, and the American Antiquarian Society records that he was elected to membership in April 1881.

He is best remembered for The North Americans of Antiquity, first published in 1880 and issued in later editions, a large survey of mound-builders, cliff-dwellers, pueblos, and the ancient cultures of Mexico and Central America. In the book's preface, he explains that he wanted to create a practical introduction to the earliest period of North American antiquity, drawing on Smithsonian reports, scientific proceedings, and other research available at the time.

Short also contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica, including an article on Ohio written with Edward Orton. He died young in 1883, leaving behind a reputation tied mainly to his ambitious attempt to gather the archaeological knowledge of his era into one accessible volume.