Tuesday, November 24, 2009

VIV Tour

Some Very Interested Visitors stopped by the museum on Friday off of the Emerald Princess

Will and his fiancee, Joanne, came by the museum for a behind the scene tour. Will works with non-for-profits in the Los Angeles area and had come across the museum website while searching for things to do on their cruise. He contacted the museum to say he was very interested in what we were doing and wanted a closer look. Lucky for them, we were just completing the research on the Ft George buttons and they were intrigued by the clues that could be seen under the microscope. Will pointed out that he thinks the belt wrapping the RI in the Royal Irish button is a heraldry symbol used by infantry. It is possibly the symbol for brotherhood. Something new to research.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button

We just finished the Winter issue of the Astrolabe. The whole issue will feature information about the Ft. George archaeological survey we have just completed. One of the articles will be about buttons found on Ft. George.

This week we have been researching the regimental buttons. These are the pewter buttons worn on the "redcoat" of the British army during the 1790s. Each regiment had their own buttons.

One particular button we found, actually four buttons we found, is marked in the center with R.I.

We spent four days searching on the internet to find a similar button that would indicate what regiment this button belonged to. We thought it might be the Royal Irish, the 18th of Foot, who were stationed in Jamaica from 1807-1817. After searching through hundreds of websites, Tiffany finally found this button which was for sale by a private collector.

Finally, this was the proof we were looking for. The R.I. on this button with the 18 is just like our R.I> and the only other button we have seen with these letters. The button we have must be from the 18th of Foot, Royal Irish Regiment. They must have been on garrison duty at Ft. St. George while they were stationed in Jamaica. But that requires a little more research.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Ft George Presentation

Link to Ft George Project

Dr Donald Keith gave a presentation about the results of the Ft George Project at the museum on Wednesday evening. The presentation was to staff of the Governor's office and staff of the DECR. We showed several of the artifacts related to the fort and gave a presentation about erosion that is taking its toll on the remaining areas of the fort. The presentation was well attended and the information was well received. This week has been very busy as we have been trying to share the results of the project with as many people as possible.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

New Air Conditioners

www.tcmuseum.org

The new air conditioners have arrived and are being installed here by Paul and Alvin from Climatech. All the air conditioners will be replaced in the next four weeks. Our AC has been operating very poorly since the September hurricanes.
The new air conditioners are more efficient and will be controled by humidity as well as temperature. They will provide better cooling of the Guinep House and will provide a better invironment for storage in the Science Building. They will also cost less to operate and will save on the rising costs of electricity.