Before and After: Conserving the McLoughlin Family's Silver at Fort Vancouver

Conservator Fran Ritchie at work on the collection, April 2023. National Park Service.

In April 2023, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site hosted Fran Ritchie, a conservator from the National Park Service's Harpers Ferry Center. For two weeks, in the park's archaeology lab, she cleaned a selection of historic objects from its museum collection.

Many of them belonged to the McLoughlin family, leaders at Fort Vancouver who later lived in Oregon City, Oregon, in the house now preserved as the McLoughlin House. Conservation removes decades of dirt, residue and grime, so that objects can be preserved for the future and shown in exhibits. Here is what four of them looked like before and after.

John Rae's dagger

John Rae was born at Fort Vancouver in 1839. His mother, Eloisa McLoughlin Rae, was the daughter of the fort's chief factor; his father, William Glen Rae, a clerk from Scotland, died when John was young. With Scottish roots on both sides, John lived in Scotland for a time before coming back to the Northwest to care for his ageing mother.

His dagger, small knife and fork are part of a traditional Scottish gentleman's regalia. They were in good condition but heavily tarnished, with small abrasions on the leather and handles. The conservator polished the silver and gave it a protective coating, and cleaned the wood, leather and "gems".

Before. National Park Service.

After. National Park Service.

John McLoughlin's horticultural medal

On May 11, 1826, Dr. John McLoughlin received this large silver medal from the Royal Horticultural Society of London "for the assistance rendered to Mr. David Douglas" while the Scottish botanist collected plants in the Hudson's Bay Company's territories. The Society had sent Douglas to gather plants across western North America and try to introduce them to British gardens.

The medal was tarnished, with dull white particles lodged in the deep recesses of its design. Ritchie cleaned it, reduced old polishing residue, polished it lightly with a calcium carbonate slurry and sealed it with a protective resin.

The medal after treatment. National Park Service.

Candlesticks

A pair of the McLoughlins' silver candlesticks had old wax in their holders and a dark layer of tarnish. The conservator removed the wax, eased off old polish with wooden picks and solvent, polished the surface and applied a protective resin.

The candlesticks before treatment. National Park Service.

And after. National Park Service.

A North West Company seal

Before joining the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, McLoughlin worked as a clerk for its Canadian rival in the fur trade, the North West Company. He would have used this small seal, marked "NWC" with a tree and the motto Perseverance, to stamp the wax sealing his letters. It was cleaned of wax and grime with swabs and mineral spirits, polished, and protected with acrylic resin and microcrystalline wax.

The seal after cleaning. National Park Service.

Sources

• National Park Service, "Historic Object Conservation at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site"; rewritten in hubnx's own words. Photographs by the National Park Service.