Hi folks! My name is Ted Maust and I'm getting an M.A. in public history from Temple University.

On the water with classmates from Studies in American Material Culture, Fall 2017. Photo by Charlie Hersh (@charliehersh)

I'm from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but I've lived much of the last decade in the Midwest before coming back East for grad school. My scholarly interests are currently focused around historic house museums, but I contain multitudes and in my time outside of school I follow the sporting exploits of Tottenham Hotspur and the Madison Radicals and occasionally daydream about writing fiction. I sometimes blog at tedmaust.com and have been known to contribute to AnabaptistHistorians.org.

Presenting at the Barnes Club Graduate Student History Conference, Spring 2017. Photo by Hilary Iris Lowe

How do I feed myself?

I've been very lucky to have employment in various public history settings over the last five years, as Production Assistant at the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, a tour guide at Eastern State Penitentiary Historical Site, and as an intern at the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks.

On tour at Eastern State, photo by Erin Kennedy Hess

Currently, I'm working at the National Park Service Northeast Regional Office with the History program on a project to help historic houses at NPS sites freshen up the stories they tell and how they tell them. It is early on in the project, but I'm very excited about what may come of it.

What am I doing on Steemit?

The immediate impetus for trying out this platform is an assignment for my Non-profit Management class ( #philly5151 ), wherein my classmates and I will use Steemit to capitalize on historical content from some of Philadelphia's cultural organizations and award any Steem earnings to one of those institutions for projects that we are excited about. We're beginning with content for #explore1918 , but I think my classmates and I will go in some really interesting directions by the end of the semester. I am very intrigued by the concept of Steemit, so y'all might get an inside look at my research the next few months.

100% of the SBD rewards from this #philly5151 post will support the Philadelphia History initiative @phillyhistory. This crypto-experiment is part of a graduate course at Temple University's Center for Public History and is exploring history and empowering education to endow meaning. To learn more click here.