add default documentation to this repo

[MathewBiddle]

To encourage participation and/or simply document how this repository functions, I recommend adding a few standard documentation pieces to this repository.

For more information on each of the below items, see https://opensource.guide/starting-a-project/#launching-your-own-open-source-project

• LICENSE (I see two in this repo, which one is the authoritative one?)
• add a README.md with context (answering some questions such as; What does this project do? Why is this project useful? How do I get started? Where can I get more help, if I need it?)
• contributing guidelines (CONTRIBUTING.md)
• code of conduct (CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)

[ianjonsen]

In progress...