diff --git a/utils-tests.rkt b/utils-tests.rkt
index bb4be65..431b7ca 100644
--- a/utils-tests.rkt
+++ b/utils-tests.rkt
@@ -47,4 +47,6 @@
   (check-equal? (string->any "(or b (not a))") '(or b (not a)))
   (check-equal? (string->any "14") 14)
   (check-equal? (read-org-table "((\"a\" \"(and a b)\") (\"b\" \"(or b (not a))\"))")
-                '(("a" "(and a b)") ("b" "(or b (not a))"))))
+                '(("a" "(and a b)") ("b" "(or b (not a))")))
+  (check-equal? (unstringify-pairs '(("a" . "1") ("b" . "(and a (not b))")))
+                '((a . 1) (b . (and a (not b))))))
diff --git a/utils.rkt b/utils.rkt
index 3c736c7..a600a28 100644
--- a/utils.rkt
+++ b/utils.rkt
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@
                [any->string (-> any/c string?)]
                [stringify-variable-mapping (-> variable-mapping? string-variable-mapping?)]
                [string->any (-> string? any/c)]
-               [read-org-table (-> string? (listof any/c))])
+               [read-org-table (-> string? (listof any/c))]
+               [unstringify-pairs (-> (listof (cons/c string? string?)) (listof (cons/c symbol? any/c)))])
  ;; Contracts
  (contract-out [variable-mapping? contract?]
                [string-variable-mapping? contract?])
@@ -172,3 +173,11 @@
 ;;; Reads a table from a string produced by Org-mode for a named
 ;;; table.  See example.org for examples.
 (define (read-org-table str) (string->any str))
+
+;;; Given a list of pairs of strings, converts the first element of
+;;; each pair to a string, and reads the second element with
+;;; string->any.
+(define (unstringify-pairs pairs)
+  (for/list ([p pairs])
+    (match-let ([(cons key val) p])
+      (cons (string->symbol key) (string->any val)))))