Lauryn is a first-year Public History M.A. student from East Amana, Iowa.

She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in History and a minor in music from Central College. Her undergraduate honors thesis focused on the primary accounts and historiography of early female rulers. Utilizing local oral histories, Lauryn served as a summer undergraduate research fellow conducting a project centered around Post-WWII Dutch immigration to Pella, Iowa.

While at Central, she worked in the Public History field, interning at Pella Historical Museums and the Amana Heritage Society.

Lauryn’s current research interests include cultural heritage and historical memory. Her focus lies in the broader fields of social and cultural history, particularly the roles gender, ethnicity, and race play in society, as well as the expression of culture through music.