From May 29 to June 2,  Donald Keith (Chairman of the Board) and Richard Coberly (Windward Media) were at the Museum laying the groundwork for the Jeremiah Murphy and Grand Turk Lighthouse exhibits.  One of the things professional videographer’ and photographer Richard Coberly did was get a different perspective on the task. Richard kindly shared this with us: Quite often we look at things without thinking much about how we’re seeing them. As a photographer, I learned to look for a different perspective of even the most ordinary object in order to produce an interesting image. When it comes to very large things like lighthouses, that perspective is often from the air.

JR and Richard getting ready for the Mountain Air heli flight.

This is not only a great way to show the lighthouse in its larger environment, but more importantly it allows seeing the things that give it its purpose; the dangerous reefs surrounding Grand Turk. Views from above are unlike any other, and serve not only to make the lighthouse more interesting, but give it context and easily illustrate what a vital structure it is, not only now, but in the past when navigation aids were sparse and inaccurate.

Donald (left) and JR (right) getting a bird’s eye view of the reef.

To accomplish this, the weapon of choice is a helicopter, unsurpassed in its ability to get “the shot”. As someone who flies often, it’s imperative to locate a skilled pilot and trustworthy aircraft that are suited to the specific job. Enter J.R. Cousinau, pilot for Grand Turk Helicopter Adventure (www.flygrandturk.com) run by Mountain Air Helicopters. After only a few minutes, it’s easy to see the shoot is going to go great, and be entertaining as well. Following every direction and request, J.R. executed our flight without a single issue. Unlike some other resources, an excellent pilot and helicopter are at the top of the list when it comes to capturing that different perspective.

By Dr. Donald H. Keith
Chairman, Board of Directors

The centerpiece of the new Jeremiah Murphy exhibit we are working on is a mannequin of the famous 19th-century helmet diver. This is not your usual get-a-mannequin-and-be-done-with-it effort. The body is finished, clad in full diving dress, but we still need a head.

One of the benefits of living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is access to artists. Kim Crowley of Sculpture Basis immediately came to mind. We worked with him before to create mannequins for an exhibit at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. Each of Kim’s creations starts with making a plaster mold of a real person’s head—or entire body for that matter!

Jeremiah Murphy with his son Harro.

The person could be anyone, of course, but we do have what we think is a photo of Jeremiah taken in the 1870s. Armed with that image Kim set about finding a subject who strongly resembles the man in the grainy, faded photo.

Eventually he found Adam Gates, who gamely agreed to pose for a “life cast” of his head. The process took only about half an hour, which was good because holding a position while someone wraps your entire head in wet plaster bandages probably isn’t comfortable.

It’s going to take another couple of weeks to finish. Kim has to touch up the two-part mold, make the final cast, and add the beard clearly visible in the old photo. Then “on with his head!”

Kim Crowley explaining the process to Adam Gates.

The layers of plaster being shaped to Adam’s face.

Adam gamely holding the correct pose while Kim puts more plaster strips in place.

A close look at the cast after removal.

Kim explaining how the cast will be used.

April 17 was a big day on Grand Turk. It was our turn to participate in the Queen’s Baton Relay and the Turks and Caicos National Museum was one of the stops.

The Baton Relay is a much loved tradition of the Commonwealth Games and symbolizes the coming together of all Commonwealth Nations in preparation for the four-yearly festival of sport and culture. This year the 20th games will be held in Glasgow.

Commonwealth Games Committee documenting the relay at the Museum.

The lead-up events to the games will see the Queen’s Baton travel continuously to all 70 Commonwealth nations and territories during a two hundred and eighty-eight day odyssey. The duration, time differences and continuous nature of the journey make it a truly 24/7 experience.

Baton and runners approach the Museum while the event is being filmed for broadcast.

The Commonwealth Games Association of the Turks and Caicos Islands hosted the prestigious Queen’s Baton Relay.The Relay started in Providenciales on April 16, and on April 17 the team was flown over to Grand Turk Airport to begin their multi-stop tour of the island.

At the Museum, Nickson Dickenson, Deputy Youth Director TCIG, hands off the baton to De’Ajah Smith, Inter-Island Champion.

At the Museum, the team posed for photo opportunities and the staff gave short informational tours. We sent them on their way with water on a hot thirsty day. The Turks and Caicos National Museum was proud to be a part of this monumental event.

By Candianne Williams

Over the past two weeks we were visited by two groups from the Iris Stubbs Primary School in South Caicos. We had the privilege of welcoming twelve Grade 3 students and ten Grade 2 students accompanied by their teachers.

Iris Stubbs Primary Grade 2 are all smiles after their visit.

They were very interested and attentive as they toured the museum. They also had great fun shopping for mementos from the gift shop.

Grade 3 showed off their orange T-shirts that also had a history message.

It was great to have you visit us Iris Stubbs Primary School!

On Monday, March 3rd, Drs. Sullivan and Freimuth gave back-to-back “Meet the Experts” presentations describing the excavations they conducted on several Arawak sites they discovered on Middle Caicos in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The first archaeological investigations in the Turks & Caicos Islands were on Middle Caicos.

These were the first archaeological investigations ever conducted in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Museum Founder Grethe Seim was one of the participants in these excavations and they contributed to her desire to create the National Museum many years later.

View of the first excavations on Middle Caicos.

Glen started the show with a description of a large village site called MC-12 located not far from Bambara. Shaun’s presentation dealt with the site known as MC-6 and the evidence there for an ancient astronomical “observatory.”

We’re happy to welcome back Shaun and Glen after such a long time away from the islands.

Lighthouse restorer and iron founder Gary Knappenberger arrived on Grand Turk February 18^th to spend a few days with Donald Keith and Sherlin Williams examining the “light room” of the Grand Turk lighthouse and elements of the light at the Museum.

Sherlin Williams and Gary Knappenberger examining the Grand Turk Lighthouse light room.

Gary will use his measurements and photographs to reproduce parts of the light that we need to complete our exhibit. The Museum has had the Fresnel lens on exhibit and the clockwork mechanism that rotated the lens in storage for many years.

Sherlin and Gary looking at the clockworks for the Fresnel lens.

The new exhibit we are planning to complete and install this summer will reunite the old team—the lens, light, clockwork, and pedestal—and make them fully operational. The exhibit will be enhanced further by recreating the light room itself.

An amazing view from the top of the Grand Turk lighthouse.

Friends Director Dr. Randy Davis arrived on a cruise ship on February 24^th traveling with his wife and parents.  He was delighted to see that we had assembled the old helmet-diver’s “air pump” that we also acquired for the Murphy exhibit.

Randy is the one who found this rare artifact in England and arranged for the Museum to purchase it.

The wooden cabinet makes it look disarmingly simple, but once you open the top and look inside you can see the crankshaft, pistons, cylinders, cooling jacket, valves, gauges, and other machinery that makes it quite heavy.  British broad arrows stamped into some of the parts signify that it was once property of the Royal Navy.

By Candianne Williams

Form Four and Form Five students of the Marjorie Basden High School in South Caicos visited the museum today to research the Lucayan Indians. The students are submitting a paper on that topic for the School Based Assessment portion of the Caribbean Examination Council’s Caribbean History O-Level Examination. They listened attentively to our tour guide Fred and diligently took notes as their teacher Ms. Bonaparte instructed. The ten students were accompanied by three teachers. They were very interested in the map showing the Lucayan archaeological excavation sites and endeavored to visit as many of them as they could and imagine what would have been happening at those sites hundreds of years ago.

Form 4 and Form 5 Students at the Museum. Looks like they enjoyed themselves.

By Pat Saxton
Director

A very merry Christmas tree from Santa to the TCNM.

Thanks to an early Christmas gift from Santa Claus the TCNM is now in possession of a beautiful  artificial Christmas tree. It is in the upstairs landing so that everyone in the Museum and outside on Front Street can share it with us.

Candianne Williams and Cecile Wennick put their decorating skills to good use and trimmed the tree with lovely blue and silver ornaments.

There are even gifts under the tree for all those good employees!

Happy Holidays to our visitors, friends and families.