History Comes to Life in New OGHM Stamp Room
Whether you are a stamp collector or not, a tour of the Old Government House Museum Stamp Room is a fascinating delve into the BVI’s history, culture and more. The stamp room, which is located on the second floor, will be open to the public on February 18th.
by Claudia Colli
“This is the most comprehensive collection of BVI stamps for public viewing that I know of in the world,” Nadia Menezes told me. Nadia, was showing me around the BVI’s re-opened Stamp Room at the Old Government House Museum, and it was a fascinating glimpse of the BVI as seen through over one and a half centuries of BVI stamps. Nadia a lawyer and legal consultant took on the task of re-establishing the Stamp Room in October 2024 and the results show her enthusiasm for the project.
Old Government House Museum was once the home of the BVI’s British governors, administrators and commissioners. Built in 1926 in a Victorian tropical style with stout shutters, thick masonry walls and wide verandas the building was meant to withstand the vagaries of a tropical climate including hurricanes. But by the 1980s the building was showing its age and a new residence was built for the governor next door and money was raised to turn the original home into a museum. Downstairs the rooms, which are furnished in a mid-20th century style, include a sitting area, a dining room and a room displaying objects and artifacts relevant to the BVI’s history and culture.
Upstairs is the bedroom that Princess Margaret once slept in, graciously refurbished to reflect the time of her visit. You can almost visualize her sweeping through the room in an elegant dinner gown on her way for cocktails with the governor and prestigious guests. The hall walls are lined with paintings by Aileen Malcom depicting Main Street’s original West Indian-style homes. The “Quaker Room” displays information on famed 18th century Quakers, William Thornton (who went onto designed the US Capital Building) and Dr. John Coakley Lettsom founder of the London Medical Society. Also upstairs is the Library. All rooms beautifully and elegantly furnished and bringing to life past chapters of BVI history.
The second floor is also where the BVI Stamp Room is located. These colorful stamps depict a range of subjects rendered in beautiful and colorful artwork – the flamingo, for instance, is almost as captivating on its stamp as it is in the wild. There are historical figures like Theodore Faulkner, an Anegadian, who along with other motivated citizens in the mid-20th century launched the movement towards BVI self-governance. Other locals of note include academic and historian Norwell Harrigan as well as school teacher Stanley Nibbs. There is a stamp depicting secondary school sports and one with a book mobile. The list of both notable and ordinary events goes on, giving visitors a unique feel for the BVI then and now.
The Stamp Room had been dismantled and the stamps stored away for safety in the wake of Hurricane Irma in 2017. The museum’s board had worked hard to get the museum restored following the devastation of Irma, but the stamp room was one of the last rooms to be redone.
“Originally I wasn’t that interested in stamps,” Nadia told me. But when she learned that Mark Chapman, the board treasurer, couldn’t find anyone with the time to restore the exhibit, she took on the task with relish. The more she looked into it, the more she became intrigued. The history of the BVI’s postal service and its stamp issues were full of life.
The first Virgin Islands post office was established in 1787, but it wasn’t until 1858 that the post office sold its first stamp. The stamp, which depicted a portrait of Queen Victoria, was issued by Great Britain. In 1866, the BVI for the first time produced its own stamp. The stamp was of Saint Ursula, who has a unique relationship to the BVI. Ursula, along with her 11,000 virgin followers, was murdered by the Huns in the fourth century. It seems that when Columbus sailed past these islands in 1493, he was so taken by the St. Ursula legend and these islands’ untouched beauty, he named them the Virgin Islands.
But as far as stamps go, the most intriguing part of the St. Ursula stamp story is the stamp known as “the missing virgin.” This is among the rarest of BVI stamps, and is a variety of the 1867 – 1 shilling stamp with a rose.
The original Old Government House Museum’s stamp room, which was established by the BVI Philatelic Society in 2006, was co-founded by stamp enthusiast, the late Roger Downing and Girogio Migliavacca. Migliavacca, who started collecting stamps in Milan before moving to the BVI, is a renowned BVI stamp collector and philatelic expert. His “Specialized Stamp Catalogue of the British Virgin Islands 1787-2001” is a consummate work on the subject of BVI stamps.
Re-establishing the Stamp Room required some detective work on Nadia’s part. The collection was complete up to 2002. So, Nadia set out to source and purchase the stamps from 2002 to the present from stamp collection websites and ebay. The collection is now complete except for a few issues that are unavailable on the worldwide collectors’ market.
The stamps on display are not just about the BVI. There are stamp series depicting a wide range of people and events worldwide including US presidents, astronauts, and the British Royal family, most prominently a series on the life and times of Queen Elizabeth I.
Nadia has additional ideas for the stamp room to help the public learn more about the themes covered by BVI stamps. Utilizing QR codes, which visitors can scan to learn more about a particular stamp issue or the subject it portrays, is one of them. There are already print outs with information or articles on subjects relating to the stamps hanging from the displays or on the walls.
One stamp issue of great public fascination is a stamp series on the RMS Rhone. The royal mail ship sank in a hurricane off the coast of Salt Island in October 1867. Its undersea remains have become one of the BVI’s most popular dive sites and its stamp issue a collector favorite.
To some, stamps may seem static, but in reality, they are a fascinating and easy way to learn about the Virgin Islands. They are an animated ride through BVI history: its events and people; its flora and fauna . . . and much more.
And while visiting the stamp room please explore the other newly opened rooms on the second floor: The elegant Princess Margaret Room, the Quaker Room with its history of some of the VI’s most famous 18th century personages and the Library.
For more information on Old Government House Museum go to their website:
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