We are finally finishing the re-filing project that began after the hurricane now more than a year ago. Aliatte has been spending her holiday break from the Grand Turk Community College transferring miles of files into our new cabinets that arrived with the AC equipment in November. Last year we had an order of file cabinets come with our shipment of replacement supplies following the hurricane. These cabinets, however, were the wrong size. Our second order put us into the file business and we are almost back in order. At least alphabetically!

The new year has started. We have had five ship calls this New Years weekend. Our Historic Houses and Museum tours have been full. Thanks to the storms off the U.S. coast we have had unbelievable choppy seas for three days. New Years day was flat and calm. Everyone was on the water. Today, it is choppy again. But like I told visitors a couple days ago…it is never raining inside the museum.

Merry Christmas to all….

We had three ships in port in Grand Turk today with over 80 people through the museum on tours and museum visits. A very interesting group as well: a retired Italian journalist, a retired conservative protestant minister, a retired anthropologist, and a retired couple who had met on a previous cruise to Alaska…all provided lively conversation as they were very interested in specifics about the museum and life on Grand Turk. I have always wondered who takes a cruise over Christmas week. Retired people!

We had a great day, though with limited staff because of the holidays we worked hard. Now we are off to celebrate our Christmas…and to all a good night.

Christmas week is a busy week on Grand Turk. There are nine ships in this week.

Yesterday, was a trial day. We had four ship tours through the building. Two tours were here at the same time! It also rained all day. We were determined that everyone who came to the museum would think that this was the best stop on their cruise. Lina carried the day and I think that the hundred plus visitors who came through the museum had a great time.

Bob and Janet stopped by the museum on our Historic Homes and Museum tour yesterday. Robert had been stationed on Grand Turk during the summer of 1959 with the SeaBees along with 300 other young men of MCB7 who came to build North Base.

After their scheduled tour, we took an unscheduled tour up to the base and looked around. When Bob was here, they were just building the water catchment and first barracks, so it looks very different today. But he had many stories as the memories returned.

For the museum his visit could not have been more timely. We were just talking about where one would begin research on the construction of the bases…evidently with the U.S. Navy Seabees. Thank you very much and we hope you enjoyed your tour

This week Ken and Francie stopped the museum . They enjoyed themselves so much that they became $100 members. Ken had worked on the salvage of a salt schooner recovered off of Martha’s Vineyard in the early 1990s. Evidently, the captain had died while loading salt in Grand Turk and the crew tried to get the vessel home, unsuccessfully.

Donations such as this are very important to the museum. One of the things we are working on right now is trying to match a matching grant of $10,000 toward the development of museum programs on Providenciales. We have an ongoing campaign at the end of this year to raise $1000 memberships to meet the match. We are half way there. If you have not become a member – please do so quickly!

P&O Cruises make Grand Turk a port of call on several ships. In the last week the Ventura and the Artemis have been on Grand Turk. The latest ship we had in is from Barbados. Brits fly in from London, get on board, and spend 14 days in the sun, which does not shine in England November through March.

The National Museum has received over 100 visitors from these two ships. The British are very interested in the colonial history of the islands and also about our fabulous weather here!

This week, Bob Pratt and several “cruising cashers” came to the museum off of the Carnival Liberty. They were on a special cruise where they are completing a series of geocaching activities throughout the Bahamas. They also left a cache here. So now if you are ever geocaching near Grand Turk please stop by the Geocaching USA website and find our information. And Thank you very much to Bob for the nice write up!

See Turks and Caicos National Museum at GeocachingUSA.com

1 December 2009 – Due to hurricane damage the museum had to discard shelving that housed our library as well as nine filing cabinets that held our research aids and records. With the aid of a Pine Cay Project grant, new shelves have been built to replace and improve the library. The new shelving has provided a better organizational structure for our collections.

During the rebuilding of the library shelves we took the opportunity to redesign and use space management techniques in order to achieve a better shelving system as well as a more professional appearance in the library. After the shelves were completed, we had visiting archivists catalog and reshelf all of our books according to the Dewy Decimal System.

The community mural project was one of the most important hurricane relief/recovery projects completed by the museum in 2009. Working with the BiuldABridge organization and their program Artist on Call, the museum brought a visiting mural artist to the TCI for eight weeks in February/March. Three exterior art murals were completed as well as a number of other small programs and seminars.

The art programs directly involved over 100 students, artists, community members, and local leadership groups. It indirectly influenced the entire community on a daily basis as they witnessed the positive changes that can happen after a disaster.

The first mural was at Ona Glinton Primary School of local trees and flowers, which highlighted the natural landscape of Grand Turk. Students of the fifth grade class were directly involved with the entire process. They assisted as a part of the planning, designing and tracing the images, keeping a journal, and finally painting the four panels.The children completed the mural by staying after school for two weeks. Parent-signed permission slips were required and the project received 100% parent support and involvement in a project at Ona Glinton.

The visiting artist led the students in multiple learning sessions where painting techniques were taught as well as color identification and mixing. This was applied to the painting of the mural and the students soon became very focused on completing their portion of the project. They often complained when supplies were packed up for the day.

It was also extremely calming and therapeutic for the students involved. The mural became an outlet for the children to express their feelings about what had happened during Hurricane Ike. Some talked about their persisting fear of another storm coming in the night while others spoke of their anger over losing both possessions as well as a sense of security. In this way, the mural not only made a building beautiful but it also created a place for children to feel safe and an atmosphere appreciative of their circumstance.

The second exterior mural was painted on a damaged wall downtown behind the Grand Turk courthouse. At 57 feet by 17 feet, this was the largest public mural the volunteer artist had ever completed.Iconic images were selected to represent Grand Turk both past and present. Community involvement was crucial to the completion of this mural. The artist elicited help from local community artists to design and project the image. Kiwanis Club members and their families donated time and supplies to clean up the wall and surrounding area and spent an entire day prepping the wall for painting.

Students from the HJ Robinson High School art class came after school to help paint. Locals from the community who saw the work would stop, ask what was going on and would help when offered a brush and a chance to paint, many of them returning the next day with children and family members, claiming the mural to be a great learning experience for children.

This mural was painted by many volunteers: men, women, and children from ages five to sixty-seven, all of whom can say they have made a lasting impact on the community.

Because of the success of the first two murals, another opportunity was offered on Providenciales for the artist to facilitate a mural program at the Gartland Youth Center. Five local art students were involved in the painting of this “Mural of Hope. At the youth center the volunteer artist taught two more classes on painting and color theory and gave individual portfolio consultations and school advice to interested students.

The grant funded the framing and installation of a children’s art exhibit on Provo. This exhibit now hangs at the Salt Mills Cafe and has continued to receive attention.