Day+09+Virgin+Islands+State+Historic+Preservation+Office+Service+Activity

Today we split into two teams so that we did not overload the Historic Preservation Office. Architectural Historian and Senior Planner, Sean Krigger, was not present today because his wife was actually giving birth to their child. Mr. Mulford Patton was present and he presented us with binders of historical archives and documents that help them keep track of all of the sites they are currently trying to preserve. He asked us to help him get these documents on the computer by way of scanner so that he would finally be able to give a copy of these rather old, but quite organized, documents to his counterparts over in St. Croix. By updating their technology, we were able to allow them to more efficiently communicate with the counterparts on St.Croix.

It was interesting to see some of the documents because they each assessed the individual importance of different historical sites,which help them decide where they should distribute their funding towards restoration. Each document described the physical condition of the site as well as what specific aspects of history and society preserving the site would help us learn about. The first group encountered a slight problem when the computer technician failed to show up despite being on the phone with Mr. Patton all day. However we noted to him that we had several computers with us at the villa so we instructed our other classmates to bring their computers to help him first, type up a formal copy of the book list we assisted with the day before as well as using our computers to scan multiple documents at once. By the end of the day we made quite a large dent in the binders and we really felt as if we assisted Mr. Patton and his colleagues greatly.

At our team meeting we had another “quiz-bowl” type competition and we all truly came to the realization that we have indeed learned so much about USVI history, culture, economy, and ecology in the few weeks we have spent down here. The more we learn, the more connections we are able to make with the observations we make on a daily basis. Overall, this was a very productive day.