Loretto Volunteers is an independent, reader-supported research project with one subject: the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the spiral “miraculous staircase” at its heart.
Why this site exists
The story has been retold for over a century — often loosely, sometimes contradictorily. One source says the wood is spruce; another says ash; the chapel itself once called it “an apparently extinct species.” Some accounts say the staircase uses no glue; others describe a glued laminate. Most retellings simply repeat whichever version they found first.
We do the opposite. Our small team of researchers and editors works from primary and archival sources — historian Mary Jean Straw Cook’s documentary research, Forrest Easley’s wood analysis, Joe Nickell’s structural investigation, period newspaper records, and more — to lay the competing claims side by side and explain which is best supported, which is disputed, and which remains genuinely unresolved. You can see this approach in action on our debunked-or-miracle and wood-type pages.
Who we are (and aren’t)
We are researchers, not architects, engineers, clergy, or the chapel’s representatives. What we offer is care: the reading, cross-checking, and fact-checking that a single accurate page requires. Where the record is uncertain, we say so. Members of our team have visited the Loretto Chapel in person, but we do not present personal measurements, inspections, or testing as our own — our authority comes from sourcing rigour, not from a costume.
Why we don’t use personal bylines
This is a volunteer project, and our contributors prefer to work without individual attribution. We think the work should be judged by its sources and its method — both of which are public. See our Editorial Standards for exactly how we research, handle contested facts, fact-check, and correct mistakes.