A Part of Something Bigger

Today I left Grand Turk.

As the plane taxied out onto the runway I caught a last glimpse of the Friendship 7 capsule that guards the airport entrance. It triggered a wave of homesickness. All the things I’d learned. All the people. The places. The sights. The sounds.... I was leaving the Turks and Caicos Islands for good. It had finally sunk in.

Family obligations called me away a week early and so I didn’t have time to think of all the “lasts” I was missing. Last swim, last band night, last goodbye. It’s the people that are missed the most, as it always is.

I’ve only spent a year of my life invested in the happenings of the TCI and Grand Turk, but it was an intense year, a year in which the museum community became my community. The past few months have seen a lot of hard work and a lot of successes. We’ve averaged completing one big project per month while I was on-island. And, of course, there is the constant mentoring that happens when the kids know your name.

Grand Turk is a wonderful place, but I know it’s not a place to stay forever. Still, I wish I could roll it all into a handkerchief and take it with me. I should be satisfied that the projects we’ve completed have established the Museum as an integral part of the TCI community and set the stage for the next growth spurt. I wasn’t just part of the process, I was part of the vision.

British Library Grant Awarded

One of the big projects I worked on all those months ago has born fruit: the Museum was awarded the grant from the British Library's Endangered Archives Project.

They have accepted our detailed proposal and the next archivist on board will be adding to our collections by collecting pre-1900 governmental and family records. The rest of my job on Grand Turk entails making sure that the records that do exist, and the systems I've put in place, are clear and easy to replicate. Nothing more insidious in an archive than re-inventing the wheel. The next week will be spent making sure that everything will run smoothly for the next in command (with some swimming squeezed in).

More about the Endangered Archives Project: http://www.bl.uk/about/policies/endangeredarch/homepage.html

Last Visitors

My parents have been to visit the island and found that it was good.

We took them to all the usual spots:

They stayed at the Bohio,

which they really got to enjoy since I worked more than I thought I would.

We experienced the Cruise Center and Jack's Shack. We ate at the Sand Bar, the best beach bar in the Caribbean, we went to the Salt House

and Xheng's Palace with Mel (my new museum partner in crime, who arrived mid-visit)

and Joan's Deli

and enjoyed music at the Salt Raker (with Wes on sax - a real treat!).


We went to pet the sting rays at Gibbs Cay


and went to the Lighthouse


and ate at the Bohio on Thursday night with Keith and Val and Neal and Tuvol


and watched the sun set with Bion and Colleen over pretzels and beer.

There isn't an island beat that we missed. They even volunteered at the Museum.


They snorkeled every day (even when dad got really lobster red) and mom said she felt like she was in a fish bowl. We saw cow fish and trunk fish and parrot fish and baby needle fish feeding on the schools of baby minnow fish. Dad "battled" a 5 ft Barracuda all by himself, and I accidentally read Don't Stop the Carnival instead of The Carnival Never Got Started. It was a great trip for all of us.

A Grand Turk Birthday

Grand Turk is a great place to have a birthday. Getting older doesn't hurt one bit when you are surrounded by clear blue waters.

On Grand Turk you too can be a tourist. All you have to do is disconnect from the work side of things - put aside your computer, your cell phone, next week's work load. Suddenly - poof! - you're a tourist.

Well this Saturday May 22nd I was a great tourist. Lazy morning, followed by a 2 hour swim, and then drinks with friends. My exact favorite day. Everything cooperated. The weather was hot. The sky was a deep deep blue. The ocean was crystal clear. The west side waters were as flat as a lake and so inviting.

I'd never swam off the Bohio before. Not like yesterday. It was hot and all the fish were lazy and slow. I followed 10 color changing squid for a long time. We went deeper into cooler waters and snorkeled over this coral head then that one, slowly heading into deeper waters. It was so calm. It was a perfect day to do crazy things without them being crazy. Like swimming really far out.

Sometimes I don't like knowing things. Ignorance is bliss. Not knowing that you are approaching a 1,000 foot drop into the dark abyss is probably a much better way to go through life. BUT it was also a goal of mine to make it out to the wall again. I only went once on my last visit and it's like seeing the edge of the world. I couldn't spend 6 months here without experiencing that again.

As we moseyed our way out, Neal noticed how far we'd gone. He kindly announced that we were nearly at a dive site. Well, once you hit that buoy you are maybe 15 ft to the wall. I freaked out. Then sucked it up and announced back that we were going for it. Then I freaked out again. But we saw it. That and the squid were good enough. Happy Birthday Jessica from Grand Turk.

wall image from: http://www.diving.tc/images/turks-wall-edge.jpg

New Puppy

Neal rescued a puppy that got stuck in the cow grate entrance to the neighborhood. He's really little, but he's eating soggy adult dog food so maybe that's a good sign. I don't know anything about pets. I do know, after some research, that he'll have a bad immune system if he doesn't get mother's milk. So, I informed him (or her) that he doesn't get a name until he lives old enough to earn one. He still has to meet the neighborhood dogs. Reading the Troost book will remind you that island dogs live out the mantra "dog eat dog world". We'll see how it goes. Until then, I'm calling him (or her) Little Bear.

Museum at Work!

My pile of papers keeps getting bigger. This is distressing since time is growing shorter.

The list goes something like this:

• Write final report for After School Program
• Finalize archives survey and write report
• Develop temporary installation highlighting all the cool stuff we've accessioned this year.
• Send report of why the Stubbs family papers fit into our collection to the National Library of Jamaica.
• Write article on this summer's Children Club events
• Write next Article for Astrolab
• Organize and catalog artifacts in fire proof cabinet
• Clean library after tarp, employed for protection after a air conditioner leak in the roof dripped into the office, left bits of blue plastic every where
• Write preliminary notes on pros and cons of applying for a UNESCO Heritage Site designation for Salt cay
• other _____________________________ (TBD, but certainly forth coming)
  

New projects pop up at every turn. Sometimes because I'm working for an E (entrepreneur = idea person) and sometimes because projects just pop up. A couple weeks ago a member came to inquire about the maps he'd loaned a number of years ago.

Did we know where they were? Yes, we did, but they were in the flat file under that last pile in the office I hadn't gotten to yet. So then all plans changed to sort through that last pile. Which put the archives survey on hold, which led to my pile of papers not decreasing. We did, by organizing the flat files, show the member how his maps fit into our collections. One of his maps is the oldest in the collection: 1690. Without a word of encouragement, he gift them to the Museum right there.



I really enjoyed this project because those 1700 maps were truly works of art. Look at this one of the "Isles Turques" (Turkish Islands). Can you see the bright turquoise around the islands? On a clear day, with visibility to 100 feet, our islands really do look that brilliant. Turquoise Islands indeed.



What else are we working on? See here: A Day at the National Museum

Rights to map images held by the Turks and Caicos National Museum.

Snorkeling and a Cook-out

This weekend we had a Children Club program at the museum. There aren't many organized events on the island so the kids get really excited when we do things - especially swimming things. We were expecting 15 kids or so, and we got 30. Invigorating chaos ensued.

Swimming sprinkled with maritime history was a lot of fun. Keeping the kids in check was a bit of a challenge, but they were so infectiously excited it turned out to be one of my best days here.

I spent a lot of time having young girls hanging off of me pretending to learn how to swim. Mostly they were just enjoying the attention. I managed to squeeze in a few swimming tips, but there were 15 of them. The diving staff, once they had finished their portion of the day (during which they preformed wonderfully), just laughed and encouraged the mayhem. I guess it was kind of comical - 2 kids hanging off each arm and 3 others swimming - which looked a lot like walking and arm splashing - in circles around me shouting "I'm doing it! I'm doing it!"

Next year there needs to be more than one of these trips. One for beginners and one for more advanced swimmers. As this weekend indicated, the beginner/advanced line is almost neatly a gender line. I spent a lot of time explaining to the girls that some of the boys were putting their masks on crooked too. Some of the boys were nervous too. Some of the boys weren't good swimmers either. etc. etc. At a glance, it seemed like the boys were better at everything and like they were getting more attention. It was just a product of the strains on the program. 30 kids, not enough equipment, and not enough time. The girls had the second chance with the equipment so when time ran short they were still trying to get their masks on straight. Thankfully the girls didn't notice this. They were having too much fun enjoying being in the water. I, however, was on my soap box for the rest of the day. Poor Neal had to listen as I railed against the automatic assumption that the girls couldn't swim - some of the boys weren't doing so well either. Why was it the girls had the second turn? Doesn't everyone know that we've quantified the results of teaching a young girl?! Teach a woman, teach a community....

... and on and on it went.

But the truth of the day is that it was excellent. The Red Cross was still hosting their car wash when we finished, which was brilliant! At home a car wash is cute: "Aw, look at the high school students scrubbing cars." Here it's not only a fruitful character building activity for the junior high cricket team, but it's a chore you don't have to do!

Unseasonably Hot, or the Sex Lives of Cannibals, in which the author recounts what the author recounts

The weather has been alternating between the pleasant 90 degrees with a breeze of spring and the roasting 90 degrees without a breeze - the type of weather when you can feel the sun maliciously willing your skin to boil off your bones.

The plants need more water these days and so do I. The last few days I've realized that I need to start filling my never-ending coffee cup with water in between trips to the coffee pot. The heat, when it's this fierce, is really draining.

Sunday was one of those days when everything outside looks brighter than normal. Those are the days I don't leave the shade of the porch for fear of melting. Those are the days you remember the real reason we invented sunglasses.

These "stay in the shade" days have led me back to a habit I'd lost over while going through my Master's program double quick: reading. Not just reading, but fun reading. I haven't had a craving for fun reading since I learned that I wasn't an expert in everything. This was a very disappointing revelation. And unacceptable. I have been reading historical accounts ever since. At least until I started at Simmons College in Boston which put an end to anything that might be considered "superficial" or "fun".

So on the crispy baked shores of Grand Turk I'm returning to the pleasures of my youth...

...by reading about an island nation even more remote than the Turks and Caicos. I've finally gotten around to reading the Sex Lives of Cannibals. It's a novel based on the experience of an adventurous American just out of a graduate program in International Relations. He ended up on Kiribati by searching for a meaningful and exciting existence resulting in a career of over qualified positions and near poverty. As you might imagine, I'm thoroughly enjoying his story.

Kiribati (Kir-ee-bas) is stranded in the Middle of the Pacific Ocean. I've become exceedingly appreciative of our proximity to Haiti and the Dominican Republic and their refreshing supply of mangoes. The island the author lives on on is 12 square miles spread out in a narrow crescent. There is not much else.

Fortunately for my guilt complex the author provides a history of the area and its politics - so: not entirely frivolous. My guilt assuaged, I sit back and enjoy the author's delightful writing style.

p. 70 had me cracking up as my new friend Mr. Troost encountered a measly 3 ft reef shark. His reaction - or I should say OVER reaction - reminds me exactly of how I respond when circled by 3.5 ft barracudas (ha! that's right - 3 point 5: a much more respectable size! thank you very much.) The author sputters and flails and "otherwise behave as weak and injured fish fodder" (p. 104).

I can relate to this (as readers might know) because I do the same when a barracuda sneaks up and is suddenly 3 ft off my starboard side. In my defense however, I'd like to say that I'm sensibly un-phased by by reef and nurse sharks. I am also, on the other hand, inexcusably irrational when it comes to the harmless barracuda. The difference, I believe is in the behavior. Sharks smaller than me have the good sense to swim away imbuing me with a sense of superiority. That's right fearsome shark: tremble before my raw power! or I'll punch you in the gills.

Knowing how to deal with sharks, should they get rambunctious, is calming; despite the simultaneous knowledge that if one of them wants to try something resistance is futile. A barracuda, by comparison, has the gall to ignore my intimidating bigger-than-you-ness. They follow you. A lot.

This is perhaps the only time I have not indulged a fellow creature's curiosity. Empathizing with Troost's response (and his sarcasm) had tears rolling down my cheeks. I feel you man. I feel you. This one is going into my permanent library.

And so reading and blogging was my Sunday. And recovering from my Saturday, which I have outlined but have yet to put to paper. All in good time.

Immigration in the TCI

Today there was an huge check of immigration papers. A boat escaping Haiti landed on Grand Turk some time in the night. This morning at the Museum we were greeted with stories from some of the staff of being woken up at 5am by immigration officers asking to see papers. Someone else had their door broken in while they were at work.

In an ironic twist one of our staff members had an appointment at the Governor's office a few hours later to pick up her naturalization papers.

Later in the day concerned workers asked to use the computers to send emails. The hospital on Grand Turk has recently changed from Government-run administration to a Canadian company. The paperwork converting the employee Visas to the new company haven't been completed yet. I edited one email to add a bit so the Provo office would know that this was not a normal request and paying attention to it might become very important in the near future.

There was a strange contrast in providing an engaging experience for the tourists at the front of the museum and dealing with the real-life worries of the island's residence in the back. Everyone we know is here legally so the worst the day brought was a feeling of harassment. That's a blog for another day though, so let's end with a brighter note:

The last tour of the day was later in the afternoon so Tuvol was around to help out. I was in the back office dealing with other things and he came bounding back to tell me that he sold 4 coffees, 6 postcards, and a mural mug. In a week when sales off the ships have dropped, this was very good news. Earlier in the day he helped me placate a pouting child while I helped her older sister with homework. She just wanted attention and since I couldn't be two places at once Tuvol stepped in nicely and showed her the Where is Simon, Sandy? book and showed her how to facebook. She was a much happier child then, and Tuvol got to exercise his big brother tendencies, which I think he enjoys.

There will be plenty of time for that tomorrow. We are learning about the Bio Rock down at the cruise center with the Museum's Children Club. I'm looking forward to a fun day of swimming, oohing over fish, and instilling an appreciation and understanding of reef conservation.

Architecture Lesson II

Today we staged a "everything we do in one day" day for the architects of the new museum building on Provo. The idea was to show them the type of events we do and how we use our current space and the pros and cons of each. The result was a day of changing and touring spaces and - very important - explaining why the kitchen should not be near the humidity controlled storage area.

The architects seemed to enjoy our program. There was plenty of work going on - talks of room measurements and space usage and needs - but there was also a lunch with the staff and our latest volunteers and a special show of the archives (that's my part!). Certainly it was a day worth the 170$ x 2 airplane tickets to making the new museum design the best that it can be.

Architecture Lesson

Neal is working with the Provo architects on the design of the new museum building. I stick my nose over his should every once and a while to see how things are going. Inevitably, I get a lecture for my troubles: offices should be over here for this reason, the entrance should be inviting and open, and if you imagine the center of a circle just here the rest of the building should flow around it to create a building inviting exploration. I'm not complaining. I don't know anything about architecture and I'm happy to learn.

Last night's lesson, however, was abstract. Neal was explaining how the museum design is starting to look like a shipwreck. He diagrammed the stages of the wrecking and finally morphed it into the building design.

I was skeptical. He was clearly inventing a story that didn't exist, like Michelangelo seeing things in the rocks. Look at this grouping of chairs in the middle, that doesn't look like a ballast mound to you? What about walls of the gift shop, that's clearly the bow of the ship.

Yes, I understand that you see these things, but I see a group of chairs and some curved walls. What you are doing is like modern art, I said, it doesn't matter what the artist put there - it is whatever you imagine it to be.

Well that started it. An architect's building should be a piece of art, countered Neal. Modern art can be diagrammed into simple lines that reveal they follow the composition tenements of the classics (understand we are talking about Western civilization here).

Take the Oath of the Horatii. A classic piece, cut into a diagonal by color - dark at the top, light at the bottom. In fact, because it's a classic piece it's very literal - the diagonal line is actually drawn into the wall design at the top right corner.

The painting is inundated with triangles, and in fact the whole composition is triangular, from the handle of the swords down. This weighs the picture down to the bottom of the canvas. These are the basic rules of classic composition.














Now let's do Guernica:

Diagonal line cut across, divided more with shading and coloring than composition - dark on top, light on the bottom.










Triangles every where with an overall triangle from the tip of the candle down, weighing the canvas toward the bottom of the frame.










"It might as well BE the Oath of the Horatii,"
exclaimed Neal.

I made him do this exercise a number of times. I'm going to work on breaking things down into diagrams. It seems like good practice to get the creative juices flowing. I'm a chairs and curved walls type of person, but with a little imagination anything is possible.

Family Friends

I feel so loved by this island at the moment. I had family friends (actually, they are close enough to be called family) coming in off the Carnival Miracle today on their 50th Anniversary Cruise. We had a wonderful day starting with the patent Neal Hitch Tour of the Island. I was supposed to give a special tour to a group of young pilots at the museum at 11am so we finished our history lesson in the "big artifact" room of the museum while we waited to hear from the distinguished group.

They ended up canceling again, which was a big disappointment for me. I'd prepared a slam-bang finish for them and was really looking forward to showing off the best parts of the museum collections. I gave the tour to my family instead, so at least it didn't go to waste. They loved it.

Just as we were about to leave the museum for a swim down at the cruise center, the head of the Tourism Board pulled up in his car. He's the person I'd been working with to host a tour for the young pilot group. When he found out my family was in town he decided to give them a little something extra - just because they were my family. Cufflinks for the Gentleman and a TCI pin for the Lady, and some other goodies - Caribbean music CD's, a DVD of pictures of the island, etc. That made us all feel special. Good job Tourism Board: my friends will never forget Grand Turk and my work love tank just got filled a little higher.

We continued the day with a trip for lunch to the new local sensation Joan's Place. Almost as good as a New York deli. The day finished back at the cruise center for a quick swim and a bit of relaxation.

Boxing Complete!

I was offered a job today. One of the bus drivers who guides people through the historic homes tour that stops at the museum asked me why he hadn't seen me for a while. We chatted for a while about how the tourism industry is back on the rise and about his soon-to-be business. He's got big plans. He told me I should come back and help manage his Grand Turk business. What a sweet compliment. It's nice to know that I might have something to fall back on. I'm feeling pretty good about the current plan though, I must say.

The archive collections are all in boxes.

In series.

In labeled folders.

I cannot express how awesome that is. Progress is a beautiful thing.

The next step is to make the box labels and create the database records. Since this is a survey project with the aim of making the records accessible, I'm going to accession the series and create a folder/box list of the contents. I'm using the adult/child relationship of the database to create my finding aid. First, accession the collection: Government Records. Add (as accessioned items) to that collection the series: Commissioner's Office, Colonial Secretary, Legislative Council, etc. In the "item level" accession record will be a list of the contents of the series. Not quite item level description, but close enough to the ground to get the jist of this spread out collection. The government records cover the years from 1979 - 1992, but only contain 30 linear feet of material. I'll be relying mostly on key word search ability, but hope to go back and put in some controlled vocabulary.

It's not the ideal way to use a museum database, but it will keep the records flexible. Some of the items are listed as 5 year loans and some are slated to go to the National Archives, should one ever be created. Accessioning series instead of items will keep the contents flexible - instead of deleting 40 records, the contents of the series can be simply edited - cut and paste the removed records into the "notes" box with a tag: deaccessioned. Boom. Done.

With a staff of 2 or 3, this type of system seems easiest to keep the work-flow down. When the next archivist comes along with a mandate geared more toward research, they can add in the details. At least when I leave there will be an idea of what's in the collection: creating entities, dates of creation, box and folder lists.

I think I can get most of the records into the database by the end next week. That'll leave time for me to tackle that hodge-podge corner of the office that has been collecting government reports, uncatalogued library books, and low priority museum projects. Oh and that other Astrolab article. And whatever else Neal can come up with.

* * *

I also have some new helpers in the office. The library shelves are getting labelled - in one afternoon the job is half done. I've been chipping away at that project since the beginning of February!

The McCullom scanning - the project that started it all - will be finished next Tuesday. Over 200 man-hours have gone into processing and scanning the collection of 2,100 slides.

The youngest of the boys is practicing his typing skills. He's diligently typing a pathfinder list for the reference files in the office.

Other projects? Well let's see... still working on contacting the Special Collections department at the National Library of Jamaica. I started to track down the publisher of our self-published museum publications. I finally have a name, now I just need to place the call. The semester is wrapping up so there are more and more students using the after school program. If today is any indication, it's safe to say that the Museum has become a part of the community here.

Students walking in and out our door - from elementary to college level, the Red Cross is using the Science Building for a meeting tomorrow, the Tourism Board called yesterday to say that a group of international young pilots are touring the island - included in this group are writers for National Geographic Australia. They wanted us to give them a good show. No problem - one behind the scenes tour coming up. They canceled today, but want to come tomorrow morning.

This means we'll be juggling a cruise ship and tours, the Red Cross, and the young pilot group with the writers. Did I mention that I have family coming in on the ship who I've promised to tour around? They will also be getting the behind the scenes tour.

The Harold and North Wells

I love the Harold story, it deserves it's own blog entry.

It seems I've been missing a couple interesting stories over the months. Like the story I never told about the bike ride we took just after Rory left. After those 175 hours and the weeks that followed, I declared one day that we needed to "do something". A bike ride it would be. We started at the North wells, which have been there for a very long time, but were later built up as drinking troughs for the feral animals on the island. We disturbed some grazing cows and donkeys who paid us little mind. We walked around in that area, having just completed the GT-4 survey, and I practiced my new archeological skills. There wasn't very much sign of life until we found some chiseled out water catchments with pottery scattered around it. Then Neal and I had a fight about a hole that was clearly formed by water erosion, but since we were so far from shore some people didn't think it was plausible. Then we road around poking our noises into abandoned US bases and the old quarry. It was such a nice break from sitting at a computer, I guess I didn't want to get back in front of one to share it. The day ended up at the mangroves at North Point that I took Patricia too, hence the jogged memories.

Anyway, the Harold is a wonderful tale. The version I'm told goes as follows:



The Harold wrecked just at the middle point between Cork Tree beach and the mouth of North Creek in 1890 - about a mile off the shore. In his report, the captain claimed that the Lighthouse light was out and caused them to hit the reef with no warning. It was violent. You can still see how the stern of the ship whipped around to face the bow, with its insides strewn about in between.


Once the ship was declared a total wreck, the inhabitants were allowed to salvage what they could. There is a story of a small boy drifting away from the crowd who were busy vying for their share of the cargo. He was later picked up on South Caicos. Did he go unnoticed, or was he just ignored and left to his own devices? We may never know. The tiles that were in the Harold's hold can still be seen around the downtown area.

There are also reports of another ship not long after the Harold wrecked. The captain, trying to nagivate through the channel, judged that the dim light from the Lighthouse meant they were about 6 miles from the island. Feeling secure with this distance, the captain set his course to follow another vessel just ahead, also making it's way around Grand Turk. They wrecked right next to the Harold.

Stories like these started gossip that the Turks Islanders were intentionally causing shipwrecks to collect the cargoes. The Harold's captain's report is one of a few officially lodged complaints to the fact, but no one knows say for sure. I think about these things when I read the Lighthouse Log book - but that starts in 1895, too late to clear up these stories.

Photos courtesy of Karen's underwater camera and the Lighthouse Collection (TCNM.2009.45) in the Archives of the Turks and Caicos National Museum.

Tuvol of the Archives

It started simple: finish putting the binders in order and we'll head down to the cruise center. I've created an archives monster. We had to take pictures of his work. Then he got the opportunity to show off to one of the students who stopped by to reserve computer time.

It seems he's changed his opinion that archives are just old junk. Well, maybe it hasn't gone that far, but he has decided that it's fun old junk. It makes me laugh that he enjoys labeling folders. He's a natural at what is possibly the most hated job in archives internships (after removing staples). It's also slightly aggravating that a 13-year-old volunteer is executing with precision a job I had to pay tuition to get a shot at (but that's another story). Let's just say that Tuvol gets mad at me if I label folders without him - that's his "department", as he says when he explains the archives process.

A Front-of-House Type of Week

With Patricia safely back at home, it was back to work for me. Neal and Dave took their turn working from home (somehow Patricia's vacation had become my vacation too).

I thought, since Aliatt is back from her teaching internship, that I'd have a quiet week in the back, but it turned out to be much more front-of-house. I thought of the people at MIT who would probably tell me I should have known better. Archives work is not about being behind a desk.

Continuing with the visitor engagement trend, I gave one of the new behind the scenes tours to Freddie and Bridgett. Days later, when we ran into them at the Sand Bar, they were still thanking me for the tour. They found it fascinating. No big deal, I thought - the history here is fascinating so it's easy to talk about it. Using the artifacts we walked through TCI history: the conch shells from the recent GT-4 dig, the 1550 Spiller coin, the sword handle from the Fort St. George Survey, the oldest image of Grand Turk - the 1830's water color, the 1888 hurricane report, and the turn of the century spy glass. We covered the best bits of the history and the collection. Freddie and Bridgett are are pictured here with the 1888 report and the sword handle.

This was only the start of the week. I also fielded a phone call from a member of the Stubbs family (an old name in the TCI) who found some family papers in the National Library of Jamaica. Would we be interested in bringing those papers home? They date back to 1790. Pre-1900 records? If we get that grant we'd be VERY interested in accepting those papers. I sent an email inquiring as to the Library's policy on moving records. We'll see if I can't get in touch with them next week.

The after school program was in full swing this week too. My work in the archives got slightly stalled. I'm still working on making those labels, but almost everything is properly stored in a new box. (It seems that the order Tiffany and I put in is working out just out perfectly.) I had to work on Saturday to do it, but I'm really wanting to get the collections in order so I can start putting records into the database by the end of next week.

A very eventful week. Of course, the new A/C units are on the fritz again too - I guess it can't all be perfect.

Archives Event - Spring 2 Collections

On the heels of all the wonderful Spring 2 Collection events at the museum came the Archives Event.

This was a great moment for me. Finally, I would get to show people what I was here to do! I'm always introduced as the Visiting Archivist at the Museum, but I'm sure that people don't know what that means. Or how significant it is in the Turks and Caicos.

I have the same speech for everyone: The holdings of the museum are the only secured and publicly accessible archives in the country. And we've just applied for a grant from the British Library for Endangered Archives to collect pre-1900 records. (that always gets an eyebrow raise). When pressed, I'll add a bit about archives as living memory.

So at the event that night I was able to show people exactly what I've been talking about. I showed them a "before" (unorganized piles) and "after" (pristine boxes with labels). We talked about the importance of acid-free containers, the ink/paper reaction of 1800's records, the benefits of saving the originals vs. placing materials in a database.

I think this last point hit home when we looked up one of the participant's family names in the 1888 hurricane relief report. The report listed the occupation of the head of household (carpenter), the number of family members (6), and the damage (kitchen totally destroyed). Of all the documents I've come across in the collections, this report is the most powerful. It tells a story all on it's own and demonstrates how archives can tell a story long after living memory has forgotten. Which is what I told my listeners and watched with satisfaction as they nodded in agreement (success!!).

All in all, I think the Archives Event was a great way to end the Spring 2 Collections Series at the museum. I was happy at the response we got, and we had a rather large crowd and some new faces. We finished the night at the Bohio (Italian night) with some new friends and some old. For my first lecture I think it went very well.

Patricia's Visit

I've gotten behind in my blogging. We've been doing a considerable amount of visitor engagement the last couple of weeks and I feel like I'm missing a number of great stories that need to be shared.

Patricia visited the week before last and was treated to quite an eventful visit, if I do say so myself. She also said she's never seen me talk so much. "Comes with the territory," I explained. Everything we do here is about making the Grand Turk experience phenomenal enough that people want to visit again next year.

Patricia came in on the same flight as Dave - one of Neal's friends who was visiting that same week. That eased my mind about whether or not she'd find the small corner of the Provo airport where the local flights depart. I sent her an in depth email with all the details, but who really reads my long emails anyway?

Having safely arrived we commenced the visiting: Wednesday was a recovery day for Patricia, she napped and I finished up my work for the day. But we did have dinner plans with Bion and Colleen who live just down the beach. Patricia and I decided to walk it and we discussed the things we always discuss: rock formations, stars, the universe, and I gave her a brief history of the TCI.

Later that night Dave heard us laughing in the other room. When we emerged Dave ventured, "You girls are having fun. Girl talk?" I refrained from giving him a "don't be ridiculous" look (he'd just met us, after all). "Heck no, we haven't gotten there yet." Patricia and I have a bad habit of letting things like interesting images on the NASA website get in the way of our catching up. I think we finally started talking about personal life on day 3.

Thursday was a half a work day. Later that evening I was to give the much anticipated Archives Lecture for the Spring 2 Collections at the museum. I'm not kidding, people really were looking forward to it. I've been asked numerous times when the archives talk was and could we talk about this type of ink or that era of materials. So an hour or so in the morning was dedicated to setting up. Patricia helped me set up the intended flow of the evening and it was really great to have someone to bounce thoughts off of. More on archives later.

On the way to pick up wine and cheese for the event I took a long loop around the island. I showed her the light house and old US Navy Base at the north point, pointed out the salinas, and drove down historic Duke Street. (This is the normal visitor tour, but it's the first time that I've been the tour guide. Normally it's Neal showing his friends around!)


Patricia experienced the island tip-to-tail that day. The afternoon plan was to head to the southern most point at the Cruise Center. With 2 ships at port was a crowded mess and not a very good day to visit, but the contrast between the Cruise Center and the rest of Grand Turk became very apparent. We couldn't even get a table at Margaritaville. Instead, we walked down to Jack's Shack to grab a bite to eat and get a breather from the crowd.



My event that evening was a great success (more on this later). We finished the night with a dinner at the Bohio. Some friends we made that night would influence much of our week. Dave and Karen (front left couple at the table) were on a trimaran from Florida, though they live in Oregon. "Did you sail from Oregon?" someone asked. "Oh no," they corrected us, "This is our East Coast boat." Ohhh, of course, how silly of us. Apparently, boat renovations are a great love of Dave's and they have amassed a small armada over the years. (Colleen and Bion are at the back right of the table).

The next morning Patricia and I biked over to the museum with the intention of cleaning up the collections from the night before and then going for a morning ride. By the time we left the museum, however, the sun was a bit higher than in the morning and we were both more than ready to go home after a short walk around the mangroves on the left bank of North Creek.

The afternoon plan was to enjoy the beach-side company of Vale at the Bohio. She is the most lovely woman I've ever met and easily the best company of all the ex-Pats who live on the island. Her husband works with the government so Vale has a strict regimen of house chores in the morning and afternoons at the Bohio beach. They also religiously attend Thursday night dinner, when I took Patricia over to show her off as proof that I exist as a human in the "real world", she insisted that we keep her company the next afternoon. We spent a few hours and a few beers chatting about almost everything you can imagine and left as I always leave Vale - with a huge smile.

The evening was a quiet one. Patricia mentioned she had just started watching LOST so we had to watch a few episodes. Of course.

Saturday we had no plans at all. Neal and Dave were committed to a Rotary function so Patricia and I lounged around the house with the mild intention of swimming sometime later. Around 11am I got a call from Neal. The Bohio was sending a boat to Gibbs Cay and did anyone want to go. "Patricia!" I called. "Put on your sunscreen we're going on a boat!" I didn't think I was going to get to do this little adventure, so I was too excited to properly explain and a little dazed at the generosity of the Bohio's proprietor. For the price of the beer we were invited on a $60 excursion. (Though I think it's really that she's a good business woman. I think the quality of the trip was significantly increased by our presence). Dragging my poor friend with the smallest explanation of the Gibbs Cay Sting Ray Adventure I hauled her off to the Bohio where we grabbed a small breakfast before we departed.

The Sting Ray adventure is one of those "only on Grand Turk" activities. Gibbs Cay is a natural preserve, but people are allowed to bring their boats over and feed the sting rays. At this point in history, the rays are well trained and come running as soon as they sense the motor. What I didn't know is that the adventure also includes a conch salad - that you pick up on the way. I managed to dive down to get one, but barely made it up without passing out. It was a good 20 ft dive.

On the beach, while our captain was preparing the conch salad, we commenced feeding the sting rays. The first ones to arrive were babies, but of course I didn't know that until a monster 4 foot wing span ray came up on my blind side while I had my head in the water with goggles on, watching a baby nibble on a fish. All I heard was "Jess Jess Jess!" and turned my head (with goggles on) to see this monster coming at me. I was up and out of the water faster than lightening. After regrouping I decided, on principle, that I had to feed the big rays until I could do it without flinching. By the end of the trip I was letting the rays brush up against my legs like it was no big deal and laughing at the Army guy who wanted to feed one of the big ones, but couldn't seem to stand in the water long enough... especially when the rays headed for his feet! It was a good trip. And I accidentally talked Patricia into eating the unmentionables of the conch. Having licked an ant's butt in Cairns, I thought I had to eat this thing (that I was told was part of the intestines!) and keep up my new habit of experiencing local traditions. Patricia followed my lead, but we didn't know what we'd done until much later. I still would have eaten it, but Patricia might not have. You'll have to ask her. (photo couresty of Rowing_Queen on Trip Advisor)

We had dinner that night with Dave and Karen and made plans to go snorkeling on the Harold the following day. Since we were with boat people, we were able to take their dingy out to the wreck, thus taking about 50% of the death defying-ness out of the trip. Which was probably good, seeing how we had company.

I was slightly disappointed in the snorkeling that day (not even an eagle ray!) But I'd managed to take Patricia to the good reef (now named "Rory's Reef") earlier. So she got a glimpse of a turtle that day and I guess today was about the ship wreck. (photo courtesy of Karen's underwater camera)

We met up for lunch at the Sand Bar later to enjoy the view from the best Caribbean beach bar in the Atlantic. I also suggested that we couldn't be this close to such a beautiful vessel as Dave and Karen's and not see the inside. We made plans for a sunset tour with wine (finally used my bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau) and chocolate. Not too bad for 5 days on a desert island, eh Patricia?