Enid M. Baa, Librarian
Recently, I’ve been finding the most incredible Virgin Islands memorabilia on eBay! 📨
This set of unique postcards sent to friends in 1934 was hand-written by a distant relative, Miss Enid M. Baa.
They are Virgin Islands’ history lessons on a postcard!
Miss Baa was the Director of Libraries and Museums for the US Virgin Islands for many years.
She was also an internationally recognized authority on the early Jewish settlements in St. Thomas and St. Croix.
She loved the historical and romantic background of the islands!
Miss Baa and my grandfather shared the same grandmother, Eloise Louise Henry.
Virgin Islands’ History Lessons
The postcard images Miss Baa sent are quite unique and not the usual ones you tend to see for resale.
Here are the images with accompanying anecdotes about the island’s history.🔎
1. “When discovered by Columbus the islands were inhabited by the “fierce” Carib Indians, but they were soon killed and driven away by the Spaniards.
Other European companies established colonies on the islands and they were in possession of the Spanish, French, English and Dutch.
2. St. Thomas was taken over by the Danes in 1667.
They sold the 50 islands to the United States in 1917 for $25,000,000.”
3. “St. Thomas is two and a half days from New York by steamer.
One line makes regular semi-monthly calls and others less often. Now around-the-world boats stop.
The port is practically a “free port.”
For this reason, you can buy Panama hats, French perfumes, European linens and Danish China for very little.”
4. “There is hardly a store window to be found on the island!
High-arched doorways lead through thick walls into buildings that crowd each other and front upon the narrow sidewalks of Main Street.”
The famous St. Thomas Bay Rum and native pottery, basket-and-needle and Mahagony-work are on sale.”
5. “St. Thomas has one paved street – Main Street – The others are as they were a century or two ago except that in some places where the hills are very steep, steps have been built to make climbing easier.
The islands are very mountainous.”
Have a browse through eBay. 🔎
You never know what you’re going to find!
Shop VI History!
