In April 2023, Fort Vancouver National Historic Sited hosted a professional conservator from the National Park Service's Harper's Ferry Center Museum Conservation Services. For two weeks, Conservator Fran Ritchie worked in Fort Vancouver NHS' Archaeology Lab cleaning several select historical objects from the park's museum collection.
Many of the items she conserved were part of the collection associated with the McLoughlin House Unit of Fort Vancouver NHS. This collection helps tell the story of the McLoughlin family, a leading family of Fort Vancouver. The family later lived in Oregon City, Oregon, in a historic home now known as the McLoughlin House.
Conservation treatment removes decades of dirt, residue, and grime from historic objects, allowing us to better preserve them into the future and display them in exhibits. Read on to learn more about some of the historic objects that received conservation treatment as part of this project, and take a look at views of the objects before and after treatment!
Learn more about the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site museum collection here.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service