Winners Announced in DGO's History Research Awards

~~Adz:Right~~Roadtown; Tortola: Monday, January 5 – The Carrot Bay Progressive Committee and John Chenoweth are the winners of the Deputy Governor’s 2008 History Research Awards.

The Carrot Bay Progressive Committee, with Maurice Donovan as the principal researcher, received the top award for their research on the Wynne Plantation in Carrot Bay, an on-going project that is available for reference at the Archives Unit.

John Chenoweth of the University of California, Berkeley, also received an award for his preliminary archaeological fieldwork at the Lettsome Site on Vanterpool Estate, Little Jost Van Dyke.

Deputy Governor Mrs. Inez Archibald presented the awards at the recent Deputy Governor’s Office Christmas Party and thanked Mr. Donovan and his team for their interest and effort in “endeavouring to unearth our historic past for present and future generations.”

The Deputy Governor also encouraged the audience to become involved in the research programme by participating in the 2009 theme, which will be announced soon.

The competition was opened to the public under the theme, “Historical Sites in the Virgin Islands”.  Participants were required to list historical sites in a particular locality and conduct an in-depth study on one of them.  Historical sites included those on land and sea and covered any subject or period, such as ecclesiastical, naval, pre-plantation or plantation.

The overall purpose of the awards is to promote, encourage and recognise local history research in the Virgin Islands.

The History Research Award Programme was instituted in 2007 as an initiative of the Archives Unit to commemorate the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade and to promote, encourage and recognise local history research in the Virgin Islands.