My fascination with history began in the dirt of the American Midwest, when I spent my childhood digging up what I thought were artifacts on my grandparents property and obsessing over the material culture of ancient Egypt and the complex, conflicting narratives of events like the JFK assassination. That early drive to dig past the official story and unearth the raw truth became the foundation of my career as a historical researcher.

I formalized that investigative instinct by earning a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Washington State University - Vancouver. My methodology is heavily grounded in material culture. My background includes hands-on fieldwork excavating a historical bathhouse in Northern Washington, sifting for artifacts at the Fort Vancouver Archeology Lab, and ongoing volunteer work serving as a volunteer docent and public educator at a local history museum.

Core Specialities: The Stories in the Margins

Today my research - including my ongoing work for The Rue Review - specializes in reconstructing the narratives that standard genealogy and mainstream history often leave behind.

• Biographical & Family Histories: I move beyond basic census dates to reconstruct the actual lives of individuals. Whether investigating the unsolved 1930s death of Captain Johan Miller or untangling the complex, everyday family history of individuals like Alfred Case, my goal is to build a complex, three-dimensional narrative of a life lived.

• Architectural & Material Histories: I have a deep, enduring fascination with the life cycles of buildings - particularly those that have been neglected, abandoned, or forgotten. I research the blueprints, the property deeds, and the people who walked the halls to tell the story of the structure itself.

Whether I am in a municipal archive handling century-old coroner inquests or traveling the country to physically stand on a historical site, my objective remains the same: to pull the truth out of the margins and give it a voice.