Virgin Islands Humanities Council Publications Program
See Phase-Out Publication Program Plan
Based on the belief that an understanding of human history, thought and culture begins with a knowledge of one’s own history and culture, the Virgin Islands Humanities Council has established a publications program that makes available source materials central to an understanding of Virgin Islands history and cultural heritage.
Volumes published to date chronicle the history and cultural evolution of the islands, formerly known as the Danish West Indies. Beginning with a transcription of eyewitness accounts of the encounter of the Island Carib inhabitants of St Croix with the Colombian fleet in 1493, many of the publications focus on the Danish colonial period.
Translations of historical works and current scholarship aim to broaden understanding of the institution of slavery with an emphasis on the lives and cultural adaptations of the enslaved and freed Africans.
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Legacies of Upstreet This book chronicles the lives and social order of St. Thomas, specifically the “Upstreet” neighborhood or Kongens Quarter, by documenting family histories, traditions and cultural events. Copies of the book are now available for sale at the Council office.
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Hans West’s Accounts of St. Croix in the West Indies This work by Hans West, a Danish teacher and scholar, is an overview of the conditions on St. Croix from 1789 to 1793. In it, West describes the education, customs and social obligations of the white residents, as well as the ecology and the natural environment of the island. In addition, he reports on the lives of the enslaved. |
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The Danish West Indian Slave Trade: Virgin Islands Perspectives Essays by a group of recognized scholars in the field, exploring the nature and consequences of the Danish slave trade, with particular emphasis on how it infused Africans and African cultural traditions into the communities that now comprise the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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The Kamina Folk: Slavery and Slave Life in the Danish West Indies Selections from twenty first-hand accounts, including excerpts from printed materials in German, French and Danish: collected, translated, edited, annotated and published as a core sourcebook for the study of cultural change and slavery in the Danish West Indies.
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Description of the Island of St. Croix in America in the West Indies Translation of a book on various aspects of life, society, and economy in the colony, written in the 1750s by Reimert Haagensen, a Danish plantation owner.
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St. Thomas in Early Danish Times English edition and translation—Arnold R. Highfield, 1997 Translation of a manuscript written in 1740 by Johan Lorentz Carstens, a Danish Creole planter born on the island of St. Thomas in 1705. The essay represents the first extended eyewitness account of the island of St. Thomas in the early colonial period.
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Various Remarks Collected on and about the Island of St. Croix in America English edition and translation —Svend E. Holsoe, 1998 Translation of a short account on Danish plantation economy and slave life and culture by Johan Christian Schmidt, a surgeon employed on the Danish West Indian plantations of the powerful and wealthy Schimmelmann family in the 1770s and 1780s. The manuscript was published in Copenhagen in 1788.
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Bondmen and Freedmen in the Danish West Indies: Scholarly Perspectives A selections of major articles, papers and book excerpts in English representing current scholarship on various aspects of slavery and the life of enslaved and free Africans in the Danish West Indies.
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Yellow Cedars Blooming: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Virgin Islands Poetry A comprehensive collection of poetry from the United States Virgin Islands, organized chronologically into three periods, each period preceded by a critical essay, and each group of poems by a biographical statement about the author, with a comprehensive introduction by the editor.
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Old Time Masquerading in the U.S. Virgin Islands Documentation of masking traditions in the U. S. Virgin Islands, including the music, dances, and costumes of various traditional masquerades. The book also discusses the educational, communicative and sociopolitical functions, and explores the underlying philosophy, religious elements and spiritual involvement of masking practices.
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*Emancipation in the U.S. Virgin Islands 150 Years of Freedom 1848-1998 A chronology of the key events in Virgin Islands Emancipation with a commemorative poem, three articles by Virgin Islands research scholars, a collection of the most important eyewitness documents and a bibliography of the most important secondary sources.
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THE VIHC PHASE-OUT PUBLICATION PROGRAM PLAN
Overview
Over the last ten years, the development and dissemination of materials relating to the history and cultural heritage of the Virgin Islands has been one of the major objectives of the VIHC Program. The Council has achieved its objective by encouraging the development of culturally relevant material for strengthening humanities education in the schools, by providing important new source materials for incorporation in teacher institutes and workshops, and by making source materials available to the public to promote general humanities education in the territory.
The Council has supported publications through special projects—funded by NEH grants, NEH matches, and third party gifts and by VIHC regrants. At present, 13 titles are included in the Publications Program. The Council has been involved with funding, production, printing, marketing and distributing these titles. It has not entered any new arrangements of this sort since 2000.
- A Translation and Publication Project with multiple funding sources, initiated in 1993, supported four titles. (The last title in that project, Hans West’s Account of St. Croix in the West Indies, was printed in 2004, and is available for sale.)
- An Exemplary Award Grant from NEH for a summer institute supported two titles.
- VIHC regrants funded seven titles.
Six other titles received VIHC funding, but since there was no Council involvement with copyright, printing, distribution, or marketing, they are not considered as part of the Publication Program.
After a long and careful review of a number of issues associated with the Publications Program, including the initial agreements with the authors/editors, joint copyrights, and administrative capabilities, the Council approved the following phase-out plan, which resolves these issues and yet enables the Council to continue its support of publications.
VIHC Phase-out Publication Program Plan
■ VIHC will not enter into new arrangements with authors/editors, which involve the Council in printing, distribution and marketing.
■ VIHC will provide authors/editors of existing titles in the Publications Program with a royalty payment of 10%-12.5% on all future sales on an annual basis.
■ VIHC will continue to market and distribute the current inventory, once NEH has approved the process and the author/editors have reached an agreement with the Council.
■ The author/editor may purchase copies of books at the standard vendor’s rate.
■ The authors/editors will handle all aspects relating to reprints directly—printing, handling, storage, distribution and marketing.
Persons interested in obtaining VIHC publications, please call the following bookstores and museums in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Dockside Bookstore ♦ 340-774-4937
University of the VI STT ♦ 340-693-1561
Fort Christian Museum ♦ 340-776-4566
Whim Museum Gift Shop ♦ 340-772-0598
University of the VI STX ♦ 340-693-4162
Magazines & More ♦ 340-773-7095
Outside the U.S. Virgin Islands Contact
Virgin Islands Humanities Council
1826 Kongens Gade 5-6, Suite 2
St. Thomas, VI 00802
340-776-4044 Voice
340-774-3972 Fax
Email: