Dec. 27, 2008 — The exhibits featured St. Croix's past, but the focus was on the future at the Caribbean Museum Center of the Arts Saturday in Frederiksted.
Saturday's open house was the official opening of the St. Croix Heritage House exhibit on Alexander Hamilton, the American founding father who lived on St. Croix from 1765 to 1772. It was also a chance to enjoy an exhibition of 100-year-old photos of the island taken by Emilie Langkjaer, a Danish woman who lived on the island from 1898 to 1913 and captured scenes of daily life.
The Hamilton exhibition, created by Anthony Weeks, occupies one room of the museum's upper floor. In it are artifacts and displays on the patriot leader's youth on St. Croix and his importance in creating the American economy.
But the hundred or so people in attendance weren't looking back, they had their eyes forward, to how the island's past might lead to an improved future.
Delegate Donna M. Christensen used the opening of the exhibition on Hamilton — easily St. Croix's most famous historical resident — to discuss progress on her drive to create a National Heritage Area for St. Croix, and possibly in the future including the entire U.S. Virgin Islands.
A National Heritage Area is a locally managed site designated by the U.S. Congress where natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally distinctive landscape arising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography.
Congress approved the St. Croix National Heritage Area Study Act in October 2006. Christensen said approximately $85,000 as been allocated to perform a feasibility study. A series of public hearings collected input from St. Croix residents. In February, the next step will be to gather participating government agencies and non-profit groups to explore how management of a St. Croix NHA could be organized.
Hamilton, who began as a clerk in a Christiansted import-export business to become George Washington's right-hand man, the first secretary of the U.S. Treasury and shaper of the U.S. economy, is an appropriate focus for efforts to promote Crucian heritage, Christensen said.
In her welcoming remarks, museum director Candia Atwater said the CMCA's building is finally complete after five years of work. It had been abandoned after Hurricane Hugo and further damaged by Hurricane Marilyn. With museum space upstairs and room for classes and youth and senior activities on the ground floor, it is a "phenomenal space" that can provide a connection for the island's youth, "getting our children back in touch with their elders and their elders' values."
The building also had a surprising connection to the Langkjaer exhibition, said Anne Walbom, co-curator of the exhibit. The exhibit grew serendipitously out of plans for a book on photographers who had worked on St. Croix. She and co-curator Betsy Rezende were taken with Langkjaer's work.
The two decided to focus on her. Many of Langkjaer's photos became postcards and were still available today. But they wanted more, particularly a photo of the photographer herself.
Andreas Trier Morch, a collector of old photographs, contacted a man who had been married to Langkjaer's granddaughter, and learned that the man had several family photos, including a full-length portrait of Emilie. And, Walbom said, the man had been preparing to throw them away.
It's not enough to collect a bunch of photos to make an exhibit. Next comes hours of research, looking up old census records, membership rolls of organizations and much more, to place the photos in their historical context. And that's when the curators stumbled on an even bigger coincidence: Langkjaer's residence while she lived on St. Croix is the same building that now houses the Caribbean Museum Center of the Arts.
"She had lived in this house!" Walbom said. "I said, 'I guess we'll have to have an exhibition.'"
One photo of the family's living room is posted next to the main exhibit room upstairs and the room is essentially unchanged.
The many other photos show many everyday scenes from St. Croix life, images all the more fascinating because of their mundane subjects — a mother bathing her children in the ocean, women braiding their hair, soldiers resting at the fort, a nanny holding a child, a woman and dog walking down an avenue lined by palm trees.
The Langkjaer exhibition will remain on display until Jan. 21.
Back Talk
Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.
