Michelle Tiedje

me, sans glasses

I am a PhD candidate in history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I specialize in Gilded Age and Progressive Era America, with a particular focus on social reform movements of the period. My current research examines utopian communities in the United States, Canada, and Australia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. My dissertation will utilize interdisciplinary methods, comparative analysis, and digital tools to understand the roles that both utopian literature and a transatlantic network of reformers played in the formation and evolution of these communities’ ideologies and reform strategies.

I am a native Nebraskan–a Midwest farmer’s daughter to be precise. I aim to utilize this blog to share my experiences in academia, muse about my research, and examine the significance of the scholarly endeavor and the role of the historian in the public sphere. When not blogging or tending to various academic duties I enjoy spending time with family, running, meditating, and attempting to become more adept at German, the mandolin, and various craftwork.

P.S. My last name, Tiedje, is pronounced “tee-gee.” You’ll get the hang of it.