Project blends history and holograms
Clarke Historical Museum director takes part in California State Parks project
Clarke Historical Museum Executive Director-Curator Katie Buesch recently brought an early redwood preservationist to life via a new California State Parks hologram project.
For the project, first-person interpreters — people pretending to be historical figures — tell a brief story of who they are and the role they played in the history of a specific place, Buesch said.
Eventually, a collection of these recorded holograms will be accessible through a California State Parks app so that when one holds their phone up at certain trailheads, markers or plaques, they’ll be able to see the hologram and hear that person’s story.
Buesch said, “I ‘became’ Laura Perrott Mahan, an influential local lady who was active in the early years of the redwood preservation movement. One of her more notable stands in the redwood fight was to literally hop on a redwood stump and stop loggers from cutting down more trees. This was in 1924.”
Mahan (1867-1937) also connected with local people, visiting dignitaries and men with power, Buesch said, and brought them out to the forests “to experience the airy spaciousness of the old growth, with the idea that it would inspire action. … It most definitely did.”
She added: “Through this kind of work, along with networking with women’s clubs, civic entities, garden clubs and more, Laura was a powerhouse of preservation through being able to link people together through common experience and the inspiration of place to make a real difference. By the time she died, she had played a role in saving almost 30,000 acres of redwoods.”
Buesch — who was contacted by California State Parks to participate — said she was excited by this project because she had previously worked for California State Parks in one of the parks that Mahan helped build: Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
“The trail where the hologram can be accessed is one of my favorite trails in the park, mostly because I had an understanding of why the landscape there looked like it did and the great story that went with it, which is the story I tell in the hologram project,” she said.
To get ready to “become” Mahan, Buesch had to do some research, especially when it came to the kinds of styles that were popular in the mid-1920s. (Mahan was 57 years old in 1924.)
“Historical fashion is a lot of fun to work with as you get to think about how people would present themselves, perhaps including older fashion trends mixed with newer ones,” Buesch said. “Laura grew up in the Victorian period, so I’m sure some of those sensibilities affected how she dressed in her later years, but she also may have taken new trends in stride.
“We don’t really have any photos of Laura that I know of from her later years,” she said, “so it
“I ‘became’ Laura Perrott Mahan, an influential local lady who was active in the early years of the redwood preservation movement. One of her more notable stands in the redwood fight was to literally hop on a redwood stump and stop loggers from cutting down more trees. This was in 1924.” — Katie Buesch, Clarke Museum executive director
was guesswork and research to create the outfit (I wore). I told her story in costume, and it was a lot of fun.”
California State Parks provided Buesch with a general script and allowed her to expand upon the text.
“I relied a lot on Laura and James Wasserman’s ‘Who Saved the Redwoods? The Unsung Heroines of the 1920s Who Fought for Our Redwood Forests.’ It’s a great read on a generally under-researched part of the redwood preservation movement and their book shines a bright light on some truly incredible women like Laura Perrott Mahan,” Buesch said.
While the hologram project focused mostly on Mahan’s redwoods work, she was also involved
in several other community-oriented activities.
“(She) worked to raise money for veterans, was very involved in the local women’s club, which did work outside of redwoods
conservation to improve the lives of women and children, and after she passed, donated money to start a UC Davis scholarship fund in her name for Humboldt residents, which still exists today, and donated to a variety of local organizations like the YWCA. … She was
also a lifelong artist and liked painting landscapes, which probably affected how she saw the world and her preservation work.
For more information about the Clarke Historical Museum, go to www.clarkemuseum.org. To learn more about Mahan and other
women involved in redwood preservation, Buesch recommends the book “Who Saved the Redwoods? The Unsung Heroines of the 1920s Who Fought for Our Redwood Forests,” available at the Clarke Historical Museum, 240 E St., Eureka, and other local bookstores.