Dorsel remodels old homes and has been involved in working on many local historical homes.

The houses he's remodeled in the past, though, had lathe and plaster walls.

In this house, the walls are constructed of 10-inch planks that are only 1 inch thick. No studs for support, no cross studs, no insulation was used.

He believes the homeowner must have put the plates there for some kind of insulation. Over the plates was a layer of lightweight fabric, some with writing on it also.

Then it was covered with nine layers of wallpaper over the ensuing years.

“It's an amazing home,” Dorsel said.

If the plates were put there in 1922, then only a woman named Leatha Daniels could have put them there or hired someone to do so.

Daniels was an African-American widow and mother of a 16-year-old daughter. She “worked out” for another family — meaning she was a maid, according to the 1920 Census.

Another family lived nearby, whose father worked in “public works,” the Census states.

In 1925, Daniels married Benjamin Edmonson, listed in the 1925 Muskogee City Directory as a laborer.

In about 1946, the house became vacant, not being listed in a directory again until 1953. Then Edith Hightower, a single woman who also was a maid, lived there.

Most likely, the plates were placed on the walls in 1922, when Dorsel believes the house was probably built.

“These are the only layer between the original boards and the first layer of wallpaper,” he said. “They had to be tacked up there soon after the house was built.”

The mystery of who put the printing plates up may never be solved, but at least Dorsel and others can enjoy the vast amount of history the plates can provide.