BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE International House Museum and Edgar Challenger Library located in downtown Basseterre may soon move into the future following the donation of a brand new computer by the Embassy of the Republic of China on Taiwan to the Federation.
At a brief ceremony last week, Ambassador His Excellency Rong-chuan Wu handed over the brand new Acer Veriton M-series desktop computer and a Hewlett-Packard printer to the museum’s Curator, Winston ‘Zack’ Nisbett.
“Mr. Nisbett, I really admire your devotion in preserving this library and museum. I had the honour to visit this place last week and I thought it was a good idea not only to keep it alive, but also to preserve it using modern technology,” the Ambassador stated.
The collection of items contained at the International House Museum ranges from thousands of literature and historical texts to musical instruments, monetary tender and countless photographs. Ambassador Wu said it was one of the most comprehensive collections of the nation’s history he had seen and much care should be taken to preserve it.
“There are tens of thousands of objects on this premise and you need to classify them. You could make a copy for those who want to study the history of this Federation. This is an alive, historical classroom and I am very impressed.”
Nisbett gave many gracious thank yous to Ambassador Wu and his staff at the Taiwanese Embassy, stating that the contribution would go a long way toward assisting him in his “labour of love”.
“I want to thank you very much for your valuable contribution towards this world class institution. It might look simple to some because of the ancient look from the outside, but when one gets inside it’s a whole different place of invaluable historical, social and cultural development.
“I thank the Taiwanese Embassy for this wonderful gift because when you ask for gifts people will often give you second hand stuff that creates a lot of problems. This is a brand new computer and I do appreciate it very much,” Nisbett said.
On behalf of the Embassy, Wu said that he would speak to the specialists at the Information and Communications Technologies Centre and have them develop software specifically designed to Nisbett’s cataloging needs.
Furthermore, he said that he would ask ICT Centre Head Titan Lee to provide the use of their servers free of cost so a website could be developed for the International House Museum and the cataloged objects could then be displayed online for interested researchers, residents and visitors.
