Lighthouse renovations?

[Rob]

Lol.....figured i would ruffle a few feathers....first my apologies to both Roband Lisa for miss qouting them.....but i stand by everything else i said....you can blame the british goverment for the first 70 years but Jamaica has had over 50 years to collect and preserve these. As far as making copies to preserve the information and leaving the originals behind? Yes you make copies, but you leave the copies behind and take the originals to preserve. And with all due respect Lisa, blaming or expecting a third world country who doesnt have the resources to accomplish this...are we really talking about a tank of gas and a day too come get them. And with all due respect to Rob, just because Jamaica was a british colony does nit make this a part of Jamicas history. Thats like saying that anything that happened before the war of Indepedence isnt american history. The jamican goverment has spent a fortune on the Port Royal project and it sank into the ocean before 1962. You seem to be implying that anything before that date isnt important and a part of the islands history and was the responibility of the british goverment too preserve. Guess we should bill them for the jamestown excavations. I have a private message tellingme too tread lightly as i will have my posting privlages revoked or even booted from this site but do what you must. I have a Masters in history and have been all over the US and participated in digs and the preservation of history.These deserve more attention then you are willing too concede. You cant just blame the british or use the excuse that Jamaica as a third world countrydoesnt have the resources. Its as simple as coming and retrieving them and a simple vacuum sealer, a common kitchen item. Kick me out if you want, but do me a favor.....instead of dismissing them how about simplychecking if tbey are still there and if tbey are make a few calls.

Onthecorner,

First, thank you for apologizing for attributing to me a comment I never made. Accuracy is important, especially for historians.

As a historian, I am sure that you are aware that climate does play an important role in how historical documents need to be handled. Recently documents from the late 1800's were being preserved in the Turks & Caicos and they were first put in quarantine, then UV treated to deter any further mould growth and finally vacuumed thoroughly with a HEPA vacuum before being digitally photographed.

Please note that a kitchen vacuum sealer was not mentioned or used in the handling of these precious documents. And what you consider a common kitchen item is an extremely uncommon sight in any Jamaican kitchen. Comparing a first world lifestyle versus a developing country lifestyle is truly an apples and oranges situation. You take something common there and assume it must be common here. Making that assumption makes your position less credible. I love history, but I do want to keep in touch with the real world as it happens, the history of the "now", so to speak.

And I am sure that being a historian you are familiar with the British economic problems of the late 1800's. Britain's commercial and economic difficulties deepened with the "Long Depression" from 1873-1896, which was a prolonged period of price deflation causing severe business downturns which added to pressure on the British government to promote industry at home and forgo some funding of their world wide colonies. This put a strain on all aspects of life in the colonies including record keeping.

But the Brits did have the foresight to plan the Negril Lighthouse during that time period, which is now part of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. I asked them to do a little research and they responded back with some interesting information.

The lighthouse keeper had to fill out those daily weather log books. And in true British fashion, they were to be done in triplicate. So one copy remained at the lighthouse with the other two originals being sent to Kingston. One copy was supposed to be sent back to England but the person I spoke with did not take the time to find out if they had been sent but did say that all the data was telegraphed to England.

When the Negril Lighthouse was made solar powered in the 1980's, the records being stored on the grounds were relocated to Kingston. But now that Negril was becoming a tourist destination, a few of the oldest copies that were in the best condition were left to allow visitors to "touch" history. Any other documents there are required to be left on the premises. These are also one of a set of triplicates, so while being an "original", they are not the only original. Georgia had it spot on accurate that the Jamaican government put them on display for tourists to see and touch.

So the British handled their responsibility of preserving the records as I suggested was their responsibility in the first place. In this thread, the Jamaican government has been shamed, berated and even the island as a whole has been said to be uncivilized.

I feel that those comments are far and above the most uncivilized thing about this thread.

And for a poster to make comments like "Yah, OntheCorner, I was going reply to the facile "blame it on the British empire" argument, but I figured it would be useless as we are in a "don't say nothin' bad about Jamaica" environment here" and "Don't say nothin' bad about the Jamaican government...I get it" and then delete them after allowing people to read them is bizarre behaviour done only to antagonize.

As for you "having to tread lightly" is absurd. The antagonist who made and then deleted the posts (hours later) that I mentioned above has not been banned, even with that strange behaviour.

No government is perfect and Jamaica is no exception. Recently there has been helpful complaints posted in threads about the garbage problems and the motorcycle issues. I have made sure the proper government agencies have seen them.

But in this case, Jamaica has been unfairly criticized for something that never happened, they didnt do and it wasnt even Jamaica's responsibility in the first place! All Jamaica did was allow visitors a chance to see and touch non-historically critical but actual weather records from the late 1800's. That is something that you cannot do everywhere but you can in Negril!