Nassau, Bahamas - The next talk at the Bahamas Historical Society will be with Chris Curry who will speak on “‘In Whose possession they belong:’ Black Loyalists and their Quest for Freedom in the Bahamas" on Thursday 27^th January at 6pm.

Within the last two decades a number of scholars have sought to recover the social history of black loyalists—those enslaved blacks and free persons of colour who supported the British cause during the American Revolution. Though considerable scholarship has documented the experiences of black loyalists and their struggles for freedom in Nova Scotia and England, less is known about their counterparts in the Bahamas and Jamaica...

The museum of the Bahamas Historical Society is a magic mirror to the past. The outer reflections on the walls are the bones of history but in the inside the draws and cupboards we glimpse the folk and the world they lived in.

I recently unearthed these images that not only show our historical past but evoke strong emotions from the memory of an entertainment facility that gave employment to many people...

Pictured below with President Jim Lawlor are Dr John Burton and Dr Jane Baxter, who described their archaeology research on San Salvador in general and on the Farquarson Plantations. Videos links of the presentation are enclosed.

We had an appreciative audience.

Living memory in the culture of the Ancient Greeks was seventy years, the limit of past knowledge. Similarly the West African had a language that distinguished between sasa, the realm of the here and now and zamani, the realm of the ancestors and spirits, going back the biblical three score and ten years.

Remembrance Day reminds us that we are celebrating the sacrifice of our ancestors during World Wars 1 and 2.

Marguerite Pindling (pictured above) was born to Reuben and Viola McKenzie in the settlement of Long Bay Cays, South Andros, on 26 June 1932; she often describes herself as 'just a barefoot girl from Andros'...

Nassau, Bahamas - Thursday 24th June at 6pm – Alpheus Finlayson – From Vancouver to Athens: 50 years of Bahamian Track and Field

At our museum corner of Shirley Street and Elizabeth Avenue Parking at the ex Psilinakis carpark north of the museum on Elizabeth Ave.  Entrance via First Caribbean Bank on Shirley Street.

Nassau, Bahamas - The Bahamas Historical Society will be hosting both Nicolette Bethel and Philip Burrows to speak on the History of Theatre in Bahamas at their next meeting on Thursday, 27^th May at 6pm.

The talk will take place at our museum corner of Shirley Street and Elizabeth Avenue Parking at the ex Psilinakis car park north of the museum on Elizabeth Ave.  Entrance via First Caribbean Bank on Shirley Street.

Part I – A historical account of theatre in The Bahamas to 1981 – delivered by Nicolette Bethel

At the funeral of Lady Edith Turnquest many loving tributes were given to her. There was a reference in her obituary that as a schoolgirl she would walk from the Alley in Dowdswell Street to Fort Charlotte for sports; to the Priory to play basketball and up Mackey Street to play tennis. That triggered a memory that the other grand Lady Patricia Isaacs also lived in the Dowdswell Street area round the corner from my wife Anne’s great grandmother Henrietta Bethel, who taught Patsy Tat embroidery.

These factoids of history evoke a less populated Bahamas that despite hard times had a wonderful family values and community spirit...

The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and The Bahamas Historical Society owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire. The IODE, formed in 1900, was a woman’s charitable organization dedicated to community service, child welfare and distressed citizens.

Besides their many works of charity I would like to highlight three instances of generous gifts that have enhanced our Bahamas...

The caption on the photo reads: " This Silk Cotton tree was situated on the old site of the present police station – The Secretariat at the right and the Post Office at the centre. This tree is said to have been the ancestor of all Silk Cotton trees on New Providence. It was 200 years old when destroyed by disease in 1950."

This picture was taken about the year 1900. This Silk Cotton tree was situated in front of the first Telegraph/Telephone Exchange in The Bahamas. The photo was donated to The Bahamas Historical Society by Mr Owen B Jones and with the compliments of Mrs Higgs...

Nassau, Bahamas - As fairly inexperienced new editors last year we faced the terror that no papers and no adverts would assist us in our quest to publish the journal recording the jubilee year of the BHS.

But articles turned up and adverts rolled in and so we published a gold anniversary Journal with the Bahamas Historical Society Crest designed by Alton Lowe for the silver anniversary.

This year with plenty hindsight we thought we needed to heed the advice to make our journal more prestigious and available to academic researchers but at the same time remain readable to the layman. So some articles will be subject to peer review...

The caption reads, "Eight young women volunteers left Nassau to-day en route to Eng­land after being received at Gov­ernment House by His Royal High­ness the Governor. Happy, and full of vigour, they stepped aboard the plane on the first lap of their long journey. Large numbers of the R.A.F. joined relatives and other friends at the airport to see them off and many were the good wishes that sped them on their way..."

W. E. Armbrister, son of John Armbrister, Jr., and Caroline Thurston, was born at the Camp Estate on Cat Island in the Bahamas on the 8th of April, 1819. His father and grandfather were both British Loyalists exiled from America by the Revolution.