Peeling the wallpaper

I am trying to decide if I want to skim the plaster in the hall/stairwell.  It's survived the best off all of the plaster and if I can save any, it will be this.  So I am peeling the wallpaper.

The neat part (to me) is that this area was never painted, so the plaster beneath it is "raw"-except for a little bit along the bottom where they got paint from the trim on it, before putting up the paper.

The ivy pattern was the second layer, there is another older layer below.

The plaster itself is really rough and wavy, so I might not find it effective to try to smooth it out.  But I might try anyway, since it's both a chance to learn how and a chance to save some original plaster!