Cate LiaBraaten, PhD

History Professor and Public Historian

ABOUT

Hello! I'm Cate LiaBraaten, and I'm a public historian and United States cultural historian.

I earned my PhD at Loyola University Chicago, and I'm currently an Assistant Professor of History at Austin Peay State University.

My dissertation focuses on historical consciousness at the Chicago's World's Fair (no, not that one) in 1933-34. The Century of Progress Exposition was held in the middle of the Great Depression, and I'm working to understand the relationship between crisis and celebration and the portrayal of the past.

Other research interests of mine include the history of play and playspaces, as well as women's history, especially the temperance and suffrage movements.

Get in Touch

MY WORK

Public History

My public history work is grounded in both academic theory and practical experience. After receiving my Master's Degree in Historical Administration from Eastern Illinois University, I worked at several institutions.

Most of my museum experience has been in education, and I have worked at the Chicago History Museum, the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, Historic Wagner Farm, and the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History.

In 2018 I became involved with the Evanston Women's History Project, which led to my current work with the Frances Willard House Museum and the Center for Women's History and Leadership, where I worked as Museum Operations Manager. I now serve on the Advisory Council.

Century of Progress Aerial Photograph.jpg

Research

My research interests lie in American cultural history, specifically as it relates to outdoor and public recreation spaces, from schools and playgrounds to World’s Fairs. My major fields for my comprehensive exams at Loyola were Nineteenth Century America, Twentieth Century America, and Environmental History, with special interests in youth and children’s history as well as women’s history.

My dissertation focuses on the 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, specifically how Americans used representations of the past to make sense of the present Great Depression. My work has been published in the Journal of Illinois History and the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society.

Please see my CV and Projects page on this site for more information.

Teaching

I currently teach American history at Austin Peay State University, and have taught "both halves" of the United States History survey--from origins through the Civil War, and from Reconstruction to the recent past. I'm working on developing a program of study for APSU students interested in public history.

I worked as a teaching assistant at Loyola University Chicago starting in 2017. I have taught several semesters of discussion sections of History 102: Evolution of Western Ideas and Institutions from the 17th c., and have worked with different professors for this course. I have also taught discussion sections for History 101: Evolution of Western Ideas and Institutions to the 17thc, History 103: American Pluralism, and History 212: United States History since 1865. I served as Head Teaching Assistant and led others through the large survey course.

I also taught as a Teacher of Record at Loyola for both History 102 and History 212. As sole instructor for those courses, I built them entirely and integrated both synchronous and asynchronous teaching methods through the campus Learning Management System.