The Leisurely Historian… Comics, Cartoons, Computers, and Cultural History…

About Me

My name's Tad Suiter. I'm a PhD student in George Mason University's History program. I'm an Americanist, with a primary focus on the convergence of media, communication, technology, and culture in 19th and 20th century America.

My dissertation research deals with the first few decades of the daily newspaper comics page, as a local urban phenomenon that quickly became the national standard, and how those changes effected the content of the comics. It's a really fun project and I get to read comics and feel like I'm being responsible. I'm living the (geeky) dream. By day, I work at the National Postal Museum, as an assistant curator in the History department, researching and learning about the history of the US postal system.

In addition to old media, I have a strong interest in new media-- that is to say, I have a little bit of an obsession with thinking about how computers and network technologies can, will, or should change how we approach the teaching and study of the humanities. I'm a bit of a technophile.

When I get sick of computers and dead people, I try to teach myself the ukulele and have an unhealthy relationship with Twitter.