Hello! My name is Muriel!
I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and have been living in Missouri for the past sixteen years. Ever since I was a kid, I have loved history.
As a kid, I always felt a kind of awe and a little bit of creepiness when looking at historical objects. It was almost impossible to wrap my head around the fact that the object I was looking at had been used by someone far back in the past.
In college, my enjoyment of studying history became a lot more focused. It wasn’t just about memorizing dates and names, it was about people. People who, although they lived at a different time and place, could be a lot like me. They loved their friends and family, made jokes and told stories, wrote about themselves, and had treasured objects. And I live at a time that has been shaped by all the people who came before me.
After undergrad, I decided to take the archiving route. So much of archiving now involves digitization, allowing people to have greater access to historical objects and papers than ever before. It excites me that some day I will be working in a place that allows me to help others see history come to life.
Last summer, my mother mentioned that she had a collection of old recipes from her mother and grandmother stored somewhere in our junk filled, humid Missouri garage. That got me excited.
You may be wondering, “why would someone care about some old recipes that haven’t seen the light of day in years?” Well, not only do I enjoy cooking, but I got my Master’s degree in Library and Information Science in 2023, and have been itching to use what I learned in school and preserve and document a part of my family history.
So that’s why I’m starting this blog. To document and preserve those old recipes and hopefully save them from rotting away in the garage. To test some of them out and see how they taste. To connect with women in my family who have gone before me. And to have a project to work on and fill my time now that I am out of school but have yet to find a job in my field.
Another thing I want to do with this blog is talk about my interests, and maybe connect with some people who are interested in the same things as me. I enjoy playing boardgames, reading, riding my bike, camping, visiting museums, going on road trips, and of course cooking and trying new food.
Please note: all photos and media on this site are my own, unless otherwise noted. All writing is mine, and I will never use AI in writing or editing this blog.
