The Difficult Search for History in The Virgin Islands
- Mark Dworkin
- Aug 26
- 10 min read
John F. McKeon
In March of 2021, at the tail end of the Covid epidemic, I returned with my wife to St. Croix. We were returning from living in Ireland for two years while working on my dissertation at Trinity College Dublin. Research was difficult during the worldwide Covid Epidemic. I thought that I had faced the toughest conditions for researching that I had ever encountered. That notion was dispelled almost immediately.
Navigating the historical landscape of the Danish West Indies became a uniquely challenging, as well as extremely rewarding endeavor. The historiographies of the prominent colonial powers in the Caribbean are extensively documented and readily accessible. However, it soon became apparent that researching the Virgin Islands past was a bit more difficult .
Denmark's colonial past in the region, (particularly after 1814) has received less attention internationally and until recently within Denmark and Norway themselves. This previous ( thought not current) lack of scholarly engagement is compounded by the fact that the primary language of the vast majority of historical records is in Danish, and most are written in archaic Gothic script, requiring not only specialized linguistic but also paleographic (1) skills that can scare off even the most ardent researcher.
However the most substantial hurdle was the dispersal of crucial archival materials across Danish and US. Repositories, that followed the islands' sale in 1917, as well as the incomplete and sometimes non-existent indexing and transcription of digitized records. This complicates even the most experienced historian’s task of piecing together the intricate social, political, cultural and economic narratives of this colonial chapter of the Virgin Islands. Yet, the most tragic aspect for Virgin Islanders is the inability to access their own past and evaluate the history that they truly deserve.
When the United States purchased the islands from Denmark in 1917, Danish archivists removed many colonial records and deposited them in the Danish National Archives. Later, the US National Archives also sent an archivist to claim and ship many of the remaining records to Washington. This dispersal of records means the historical archives are not centrally located. The lack of resources and funding further deter the territory's ability to reclaim and properly protect records, making it questionable at best and impossible at the least. There have been extended periods without an appointed territorial archivist, and the system itself is severely underfunded, making it almost impossible to attract trained professionals and maintain proper archiving and record-keeping practices
This leaves the daunting task of cataloging material to a broad spectrum of caretakers; from highly trained professionals to volunteers of good intention and ability, and finally unfortunately to the incompetent and untrained.
The physical records that remain in the Virgin Islands are particularly vulnerable to hurricanes and climate change, and are subject to damage due to flooding, humidity, and other related factors. In 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria caused widespread devastation, highlighting the fragility of the few remaining physical repositories in the territory. The tropical climate on St.Croix poses challenges to preserving archival materials due to humidity, pests, and the deteriorating physical state of the actual records
There is also the digital divide that needs to be addressed. While efforts are being made to digitize some collections, a vast amount of historical information remains in improperly maintained physical locations, and most if not all records have not been indexed or digitized for remote access
In summary, the challenges in finding Virgin Islands archival history stem from a combination of the islands' colonial history leading to the relocation of records, insufficient resources and funding for archives, the inherent challenges of preservation in a tropical environment, and the slow pace of digitization efforts. How did we arrive at this point? Let's go back a bit.
In the Beginning…
In the seventeenth century, the Danish West Indian Company’s records were kept both by the Colonial Offices in Denmark and by the colonial government offices in the Danish West Indies. The Danes were known as being meticulous record keepers. Their records comprise a complete and detailed account of colonial development, and provide valuable documentation about colonial culture, society, and the slave trade.
The initial barrier any researcher will be confronted with is the official language of the colonies was Danish and all official records were written in that language, even though Danish was not the common tongue of the population. The enslaved Africans developed Dutch Creole combining both Dutch and West African influences. The Dutch influence, was later buttressed by the Moravian missionaries. On St. Croix the existing English planters also developed an English-based Creole. To complicate matters even further Danish was never taught to the island’s inhabitants. In the 1860s, local planters and officials insisted that official public documents be published in both English and Danish.(2)
By the mid-nineteenth century, officials in the Danish West Indies, as well as in Denmark, became concerned with maintaining their local government records. Climate and uncertain political conditions were decimating the records and expediting their deterioration. All of these conditions coupled with the constant shifting of the records between buildings and islands and maintained under unsuitable storage conditions led to even greater degradation
In 1772 Hurricane San Agustin(3) destroyed many of the records that existed prior to 1755. During the 1848 Emancipation rebellious mobs destroyed all court and criminal records in the Frederiksted Western Police Station. Eventually, by 1894 the Danish government began attempts to bring the archives to Denmark.
Rigsarkivet: The Danish National Archives
In 1582, the Danish National Archives, formerly known as the Royal Archives, was established for documents deemed important to the Crown and the State. However it was not until passage of the Archives Law of 1889(4), when these rules which allowed transfer of these records from the local Danish colonies to Denmark. The Government determined that records created before Emancipation in 1848 and prior to major constitutional changes in Denmark, must go to Copenhagen. The colonial officers were reluctant to forfeit them, and slow-walked incremental shipments of the records to Copenhagen.
After the transfer of the islands to the United States in 1917, a final large shipment of records was made in 1921. It must be noted that upon the dissolution of the Danish West India Company, some had already been sent to the Royal Archives in 1754! In all, there exist multiple thousands of feet of shelf space of West Indian Archives in the Danish National Archives, most of which were created in the colonies. The remainder of the records were created in the colonial offices in Denmark.
The National Archives of The United States
The National Archives Act, signed on June 19, 1934, created the agency and placed it under the direction of the Archivist of the United States. This was a welcome change. Before 1934, federal records were scattered across various locations, often in poor conditions, lacking proper organization and security. The National Archives Act was an to address this need by creating a dedicated agency for records management and preservation.
Presently the Virgin Islands archives are still scattered but can be found in several locations, including the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)(5), the Library of Congress,(6) and the University of the Virgin Islands(7). addition records are held in the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley(8). Other records can be found in the archives of Puerto Rico and Vieques in addition several other countries such as The French, British, Netherlands and Spanish National Archives of the Indies may have important holdings
“The Right to Obtain”…
The Treaty of Sale of 1916 between Denmark and the United States include stipulations relating to the custodial duties expected of the repositories of the records. The third paragraph states that archives and records be carefully maintained and specifically mentions ‘inhabitants have the right to obtain copies of the records’, and recognizes the possibility of a ‘reciprocal flow of records’.
However, it is clear that the United States had little concern for the archives in the first years following the transfer(9) It is not surprising the US held no concern and little consideration for the material as there was no National Archives in existence at the time, with no advocate for historical preservation.
In 1919 the Danes sent archivist Georg Saxild(10) to the Virgin Islands to oversee the transfer of records. Once the sale became official, Danish historical societies in Denmark began to bring the records to the Danish National Archives. These groups, represented historians, genealogists, and biographers who understood the importance of preserving the documents. Records dated prior to 1863 would be brought to Denmark, while the remainder would be evaluated by archivists before final decisions could be made.
Efforts were made by both governments to observe the treaty and property records and some legal records remained in the islands. Even though access rights of citizens to the entirety of the records was specified in the treaty, both nations narrowly interpreted this to mean as only each government could request documents from the other. The records became fragmented. Since there was never any agreement between Denmark and the United States, there was no definitive dividing point for all of the records between 1671 and 1917. Segments of some series appear in both collections, Whenever a chain of custody is broken the integrity of any record is weakened.
The two custodians of the records were separated by thousands of miles and exist in far-flung locations. The repositories are incapable of fulfilling their primary obligation of providing easy access to the people’s personal history hampering any establishment of a comprehensive and concise ‘collective memory’. The researcher only gains access to a portion of the records with no clear idea of what else existed or where it was located. In 2017 Denmark acknowledged the centennial of the transfer of the former colony to the United States. For the celebrated occasion, the Danish National Archive, the Royal Photo and Map Collection, and other archives and collections in Denmark, undertook a mass digitization of their archival records from St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John, (including Ghana and the transatlantic slave trade). The archival digitization not only provides the public access to the records but it enables the Danish records to be transcribed from Danish to English as well.(11)
Denmark is currently acknowledging its custodial obligations and recognizes the need of Virgin Islanders for access to their history by collaborating with the US Virgin Islands on a joint project to inventory, microfilm, and create ‘finders aids’ in both locations. The ultimate goal is to establish cross-referenced online links. Denmark even contemplates returning the records if they can be suitably housed.
While it is true that Virgin Islanders face the intellectual access problems of language, physical access has always presented the major barrier to accessing the records. The US National Archives is also actively at work to improve public access to Virgin Islands archives through digitization projects, restoration of physical records, and partnerships aimed at enhancing digital infrastructure and community engagement.
These efforts are focused on making historical records more accessible for research, education, and cultural preservation. The National Archives ultimate goal is the same as Denmark’s …to insure the peoples right to regain their lost memories and the return of their history. The major impediment still remains…To where will the history be safely returned and if it is…Who is capable of caring and maintaining it?
Historian John F. McKeon lives on St. Croix USVI and in Southampton NY. He holds degrees from Trinity College Dublin, (MPhil with Distinction). and St. Joseph's University New York (Summa Cum Laude) B.A. East Asian History with a Philosophy Capstone Minor in Labor, Class and Ethics. John also has certificate from the Oxford University Epigeum Research Integrity Center. He is a current member of the Society of Virgin Island Historians.
Foot Notes
Paleography is the academic discipline of historical writing systems. It encompasses the historicity of manuscripts and texts, deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, as well as the analysis of historic penmanship, handwriting script, signification, and printed media.
Previously any court testimony taken in English or any other language was transcribed and then translated by the clerk into Danish!
The 1772 hurricane that struck St. Croix is most commonly known as the Hurricane San Agustin. It is also sometimes referred to as the Alexander Hamilton Hurricane of 1772 due to the impact it had on Hamilton's life. The hurricane's impact on St. Croix was devastating, with Alexander Hamilton describing it as causing "almost total devastation". The storm's description, particularly the letter written by Hamilton, impressed local businessmen, who then helped fund his education in New York.
All the government archival institutions in the country were unified and given the official name, Rigsarkivet. In 1891 rules were initiated to allow the transfer of records from local authorities to one of the three Provincial Archives established by the 1889 Law as part of the Rigsarkivet.
NARA holds records related to the US. Virgin Islands, particularly those of the Federal government related to the Virgin Islands, including those related to military installations, economic development, and court proceedings.
The Library of Congress has digitized materials related to the Virgin Islands, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and more. They also hold transcripts related to the Danish West Indies.
On July 17, 2004, the University of the Virgin Islands Libraries became a founding partner and officially established the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) Materials are drawn from the Universities libraries' collections and include items that enhance access to sources of information on Virgin Islands' history and culture for researchers in the territory and abroad.
The Bancroft Library is the primary special collections library at UC Berkeley, and one of the largest and most heavily used libraries of manuscripts, rare books, and unique materials in the United States. Bancroft supports major research and instructional activities and plays a leading role in the development of the university’s research collections.
The US failure to take custody of the records was due both to lack of competent archivists but also due to the urgency of the clean-up task that the Americans faced upon assuming control of the islands. Naval administration Governor James Oliver stated “the problems to be faced in the present conditions in these islands with particular reference to sanitation, hygiene, public morality, finances, etc., are so many and so grave…Hospitals, health, and sewage systems were in unspeakable condition. There was no water system, a minimal and ineffective education system, no fire protection, and, worst of all, no employment for the population.”
In 1919, Danish archivist Georg Saxild traveled to the islands. It became clear that Denmark’s share of the documents was by far the largest. A significant amount was sent by ship to Denmark, but Saxild judged that it was neither possible nor desirable to send all the documents home. Consequently, he had to leave a substantial portion behind. Most of these were transferred to the United States National Archives in Washington DC. in 1936-37
Also affiliated with the digitization project for the territory: the National Archives of the United States, the Danish National Archives, the Danish Royal Library, and the Danish National Museum.
