Posts by Madeleine Muzdakis

Madeleine Muzdakis

Madeleine Muzdakis is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met and a historian of early modern Britain & the Atlantic world. She holds a BA in History and Mathematics from Brown University and an MA in European & Russian Studies from Yale University. Madeleine has worked in archives and museums for years with a particular focus on photography and arts education. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys hiking, film photography, and studying law while cuddling with her cat Georgia.
Design
August 12, 2020

National Park Service Designs Hilarious PSA Poster About Bear Safety

If you're hiking in the woods and you come across a bear, what do you do? You might be tempted to panic and run, pushing your slower friends behind you as an offering to the giant omnivore, but this is not the right course of action. In fact, the bear experts at the National Park Service (NPS) have created a hilarious PSA to make sure you know that this is wrong.

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History
August 9, 2020

19th-Century Japanese Fireman Coats Feature Stunning Scenes on the Inside

During Japan's Edo Period (1603-1868) firefighters were responsible for stopping blazes before the flames ran rampant through a city's wooden buildings. Many stunning examples of firemen's coats (called hikeshi banten) have survived from the nineteenth century. On the outside, these long coats function similar to modern firefighter uniforms by identifying the wearer with their fire brigade. However, the insides of the coat were decorated in elaborate scenes of strength and heroism drawn from Japanese legends.

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Drawing
August 3, 2020

Illustrator Reimagines His Favorite Movies as Classic Paperback Books

Designer and illustrator Matt Stevens has designed for magazines and media companies, but his recent project titled Good Movies as Old Books is more personal. Stevens transformed one hundred of his favorite films into colorful and worn book covers—some complete with price tags, as if you could pick them up off the shelves of a used bookstore. Each reimagined paperback's title and author is represented by the movie's respective title and director.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.