The Riley County Historical Society is starting a new public training initiative to assist in the preservation of historic gravestones.
With 29 Kansas cemeteries that are currently on the national or state historic register, none of which are in Riley County, the historical museum identified a need for the conservation of headstones to not only preserve regional history, but to preserve family and genealogical records.
“My thought was, when we went looking, that we would find a historical society or maybe a small volunteer group that had been through training, that knew what they were doing, that was out there teaching others how to do this, and we just didn’t find that,” says Museum Director Katharine Hensler. “So we got to thinking, ‘well, why don’t we do it?'”
Hensler and museum curator of education Melanie Highsmith attended a workshop led by Dickenson County gravesite conservation expert Amanda Brown to learn more extensive preservation techniques.
“We attended and it was fabulous,” details Hensler. “She did a great job, we got to do some hands on cleaning, but we also approached her afterwards and said, ‘listen, there’s nothing here in Riley County, can we bring you in at some point to host some workshops for us?’ And her answer was, ‘yes.'”
Brown, a retired member of the Navy, is owner of Stones of Honor in Dickenson County. Stones of Honor is a charitable grave conservation organization that does not charge for their services. Brown’s expertise in gravesite conservation comes from her training with Atlas Preservation and adherence to their caretaking techniques.
While some might be compelled to take home cleaning products over to the local cemetery and begin cleaning gravestones this could cause damage to the headstones themselves.
“People for many years have been going out and cleaning stones out of the goodness of their hearts and they are not always using the right product,” warns Hensler. “If you use the wrong product, you may destroy a stone.” Proper cleaning with the right materials should keep gravestones in good condition for upwards of 50 years.
With the importance of historical conservation in mind, the museum will be pairing with Amanda Brown and Geary County to host a workshop for members of the public to learn how to safely and effectively clean and take care of historical gravesites. Signup can be done through www.rileyshc.org and enrollment in the workshop is $25 per person. Conservation personnel can be contacted at RCHSinfo@rileychs.org or (785) 565-6490.
