Wallpaper of the Old West
by Judith Broeker*
Have you daydreamed about traveling to the wild west, coming over a sagebrush-covered hill to discover an old deserted town?
Bannack, Montana provides this experience.
Over 50 buildings along the dusty Main Street are stabilized, but remain much as they were when the residents left town. You’re allowed to explore each building on your own, from houses to the general store to the brick hotel, jail and stables. Two historic cemeteries give you more insight into life in Bannack.
Adventures in Preservation (AiP) brought a team of five to the Jackson House in Bannack where a flash flood in 2013 caused serious damage to lime plaster on the interior walls. As we worked with a historic mix of lime plaster, repairing three small rooms, our interest grew in the many layers of wallpaper that surrounded our patches.
The original paper was still visible, but torn and often detached, with a variety of papers applied over it. One of the team members had some experience with book binding repairs and thought the techniques might be applied to wallpaper. With advice from a professional bookbinder, who regularly works with historic papers, she decided to take on wallpaper repair.
After two days of preparing and testing wallpaper paste, results were very promising. A report was written [link to report] and will be provided to the State of Montana for further work on the site.
After successfully repairing the lime plaster and wallpaper in flood damaged rooms, the week was completed with the park historian giving a tour and answering the groups many questions. Bannack provides a unique opportunity to understand the women and men who settled this unforgiving area and learn their stories.
* About the Author
Judith is the founder of Adventures in Preservation, which was preceded by her own company, Preservation UnLtd. She is a materials conservation specialist with both research and hands-on experience gained at historic structures in the United States and abroad. Judith holds a Master’s degree in History with an emphasis in historic preservation. She responds to all AiP requests for preservation assistance and works with community members to develop each project. For her, nothing is better than exploring a historic site with camera in hand.
About Adventures in Preservation (AiP)
Adventures in Preservation (AiP) is a non-profit connecting people and preservation through enriching cultural heritage travel and hands-on education. AiP was founded in 2001 by two women with a great love of historic buildings and a strong desire to travel and understand the world. While perusing the travel section of the Boulder Bookstore, the Volunteer Vacation section suddenly brought everything into focus. Judith Broeker and Jamie Donahoe combined their goal of saving historic buildings with the concept of experiential travel, and created AiP’s hands-on preservation vacations.
Work started on several sites in the U.S., and as word spread, requests for help began to pour in from around the world, underscoring the great potential of using volunteers to restore historic buildings. In supporting community-based preservation initiatives, we discovered that our love of old buildings could translate into environmental and economic sustainability for communities.
AiP is picking up the pace! As our hands-on experiential travel becomes more popular, we have new projects, new partners and initiatives to keep you excited and involved.
