[MassHistPres] Paint on historic building

[sally urbano]

Hello to everyone,
      I am an individual from Harwich Mass with a question regarding painting of a building over 100 years old.
Recently a report  by a preservationist for  our town library advocates chemically stripping the wooden clapboards to remove all the old paint before beginning a new paint project.
Is this an accepted procedure not causing harm to the clapboards.?  I am assuming that the chemical peel is the gold standard but that if money is not available for that, a regular scrape and paint would be better than nothing. 
Appreciate any thoughts you might have.

Sally Urbano