Introduction

Paths of Preservations is the culmination of a vision derived over many years of a sincere connection to nature and wildlife along with plant symbolism, folklore, and herbal medicine. Preservation also relates to traditions and skills such as sewing & needlework–and cultural artifacts. A degree in humanities and focused graduate studies in literature and environmental rhetoric have informed and expanded many of these already defined resonances.

Experience in retail and as an entrepreneur has developed my thought toward the applicability of environmental research to actually practices of sustainability & eco-consumerism.

Many of the topics I reference are reverberations of a discussion of these definitions of preservation, especially as they interweave with the subjects of contemporary spirituality, health & mental health, and communication and cohabitation with animals. These themes are reflected in the writings of my portfolio page in the menu above.

A resonance with preservation is also why I’m an avid journaler and discuss the writing process itself–the themes and patterns that I have observed as a writer, and the particular inquiry into what the pages of journals tend to preserve.

Further, I’m currently working with the scholarship of archiving, collecting, and cataloging culture & artifacts through the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). This training provides a standardized, methodical approach as we expand our digital and technological abilities to the preservation of texts, manuscripts, and photos. See my blog page and select the category “Digital Archiving” for additional discussion.

This year (2020) I’m especially looking forward to a new project: archiving historic journals, beginning with a travel diary from 1931.

Check back throughout the year for details on the progress of a developing new website, analysis and highlights of the content of these journals, and “research journal” posts discussing my process with technical archival digital preservation.

Best wishes always,

Melanie