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DVD Copies of 1980's TV Shows: STJ Vernacular Architecture, VI Biosphere Reserve
Inspired by a pair of recent presentations by architect Doug White and historian George Tyson to the St. John Historical Society, we have unearthed two old half-hour video tapes that Island Resources Foundation produced for television in the 1980’s that we just had converted to DVD format. One of these is the West Indian Wooden Cottage; Vernacular Architecture in the Virgin Islands, and the other is about the enrollment of the [US] Virgin Islands National Park on St. John in the Man and the Biosphere Programme.
The first of these DVDs is “The West Indian Wooden Cottage,” a terrific survey of Virgin Islands popular construction produced in the early 1980’s (maybe 1982?) by architect and West Indian vernacular architecture expert Doug White and historian George Tyson. In addition to the large number of buildings that are featured on all three islands, one of the primary virtues of this fascinating project is that supplementing the overall narration by Joe Potter, Doug and George did a great job of enlisting important island leaders to conduct some of the interviews about the various buildings. For example, on St. John , Senator Guy Benjamin interviews the 92-year-old Winfield James of Coral Bay about the construction of wattle and daub buildings.
Excerpts or stills from The West Indian Cottage will probably be on-line at the St. John’s Historical Society (<www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org>) web site some time in the future.
The second DVD, MAB, International Biosphere Reserve, was produced about 1986, at the time of the establishment of the Virgin Islands National Park on St. John as a UNESCO “International Biosphere Reserve.” The video reviews the findings of a conference held on this occasion with several dozen Eastern Caribbean conservationists. Allen Putney directed the project for the Virgin Islands Resource Management Cooperative of Island Resources Foundation, with Ed Towle as the Executive Producer, Michael O’Neal, Narrator, and camera work and editing by Ray Miles and John Lovatt. Among the many participants are Merwin and Victor Williams of St. Kitts, Ivor Jackson, Yves Renard, and many more. Interestingly, the conclusion of the conference was that there was a need for regional coordination and exchange of conservation efforts, plans and practices throughout the region.
Both shows are remarkably fresh and interesting for current conservation needs.
We will be happy to make copies of either DVD and mail them to you, at a cost of US $20 for mailing to a domestic US address, or $25 for overseas air mail. Alternatively, drop by the office on P Street NW one day and we’ll copy the DVDs to any 2 GB USB data key!
Bruce Potter for
Island Resources Foundation
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