St. John Voices: A Documentary Anthology of Daily Life on St. John 1718-1956

Description

Two and a half centuries of life on the smallest of the Danish West Indies, St. John, which became the US Virgin Islands after 1917. Drawn from letters, journals, traveler’s reports, oral recollections, archival records, and periodicals related to the island of St. John. Illustrated by contemporary sketches, paintings, photographs, maps, and plans. The material compiled for this book comes from archives and private collections in the Virgin Islands, the United States, Canada, England, Norway, Denmark, and Germany.

This is a great choice for anyone and everyone who loves St. John, wants to learn about the history and culture of the island, and wants to understand the changes that occurred on the island.

From the book: “Silent no longer. Here, long-forgotten voices of islanders, Danes, and others tell how they worked the land and the sea. And how they endured the droughts and weathered the gales. How they lived together in good times and hard times. What they ate and wore, and what their houses were like. How they worshipped, how they schooled their children, cared for their sick, and buried their dead. Now, silent no longer, no longer lost to us in airless archives, words and images unseen, these voices speak. They speak to us in diaries, documents, letters, and long memories. They tell us how, after long years, came change.”

Compiled by Ruth Hull Low. 162 pages. Soft cover.