With over 200 years of history steeped into the walls, even our home tells a story! When you enter the gates of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society, you will find yourself traversing a former British Military Prison that is now the island’s leading museum, nestled in the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison. Take a look at our historical timeline:
| YEAR | DATE | EVENT |
|---|---|---|
|
1847 |
October 21 |
Act No. 192 sanctions the formation of a Public Library and Museum |
|
1929 |
May 7 |
The House of Assembly passes a Resolution recording its opinion that the Watson Collection of shells, local fossils, insects and other natural history specimens by the Rev N.B. Watson, Rector of St. Lucy Parish Church, ought to remain in the island |
|
1933 |
March 17 |
E.M. Shilstone and L.T. Yearwood meet Dr. Francis Bather and Mr. Thomas Sheppard and invite them to meet with a group of persons interested in establishing a local museum and historical society. |
|
1933 |
April 1 |
Dr. Bather and Thomas Sheppard return to the island to inspect proposed sites for the Museum and agree on one in the Garrison area. |
|
1933 |
April 15 |
Mr. and Mrs. E.M. Shilstone, Miss. K. Packer, and Mr. L.T. Yearwood agree to found an historical society and constituted themselves a Temporary Council, with Mr. Shilstone as honorary secretary. |
|
1933 |
April 25 |
Temporary Council petitions the Legislature for an Act of Incorporation of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society They agree to purchase the Watson Collection and organise a temporary exhibition to stimulate public interest in the proposed museum They request Government to grant a long lease of a plot of land adjoining the Drill Hall, or of the old Military Prison overlooking the Savannah. |
|
1933 |
May 10 |
Fourteen additional members of the proposed Society are elected, three additional persons are co-opted on the Temporary Council – Mr. R.W.R. Miller, Mr. R.W. Tucker, and Mr. G.F. Sharp |
|
1933 |
May 31 |
The Act of Incorporation of the Society is passed by the Legislature. |
|
1933 |
June 19 |
Seventeen new members are elected to the Society, and draft By-laws are agreed to |
|
1933 |
June 21 |
The first General Meeting of the Society is held in Queen’s Park. The Council and Officers for 1933 are elected and Sir Frederick Clarke is elected as the first President. |
|
1933 |
June 23 |
The Temporary Exhibition opens at Queen’s Park by the Acting Governor, Hon. G.D. Owen with selections from the Watson Collection. |
|
1933 |
August 9 |
The first Stated Meeting of the members of the Society is held. |
|
1933 |
August 31 |
The Council authorises the publication of a Journal. |
|
1933 |
September |
A long lease of the old military prison is allowed and plans for renovations begin. |
|
1933 |
November 1 |
First issue of the Journal appears. |
|
1933 |
November 29 |
Lease of the Military Prison is signed. Work on adapting the front wing of the prison is started seven days later. |
|
1934 |
January 16 |
House of Assembly approves the grant of £250 which was the basis of the resolution passed on May 7, 1929. |
|
1934 |
February 5 |
The Society holds its first AGM held at its Headquarters at St. Ann’s Garrison |
|
1934 |
May 7 |
Members who attended the Stated Quarterly Meeting inspect the Society’s Headquarters |
|
1934 |
May 8 |
Museum opens to the public |
|
1934 |
April 3 |
Governor Young visits the Headquarters of the Society. |
|
1934 |
December 3 |
Foundation of new building starts |
|
1935 |
February |
The Carnegie Corporation of New York makes a grant of £1000 to the Society through the Empire Survey Committee. |
|
1935 |
February |
Dr. A. E, S. McIntosh starts Herbarium. Dr McIntosh goes on leave in May 1936 and the work is continued by E.G.B. Gooding. |
|
1935 |
May 3 |
His Excellency, the Governor Sir Mark Young formally opens the New building, the Jubilee Gallery |
|
1935 |
November 4 |
A further grant of £250 is received from the Carnegie Corporation. |
|
1936 |
January |
Society’s first Curator Rev. Canon Farrar resigns his office |
|
1936 |
April 17 |
Thomas Sheppard arrives to give advice on the present position and future development of the Museum. He departs Barbados on May 17, 1936. |
|
1936 |
July |
The Carnegie Corporation provides a third grant of £250 through the Empire Survey Committee of the Museums Association. |
|
1937 |
April 12 |
Governor Sir Mark Young and Lady Young visit the Museum. |
|
1937 |
May |
The Harewood Gallery is completed. |
|
1937 |
May |
First Guide to the Museum compiled by T. Sheppard goes on sale. |
|
1943 |
May |
Council’s application to the Comptroller of Development and Welfare in the West Indies for the establishment of a children’s museum is granted. A capital sum of £300 towards the cost of providing a suitable building and its equipment and an annual sum of £300 for maintaining the museum for five years. |
|
1944 |
February 22 |
Additional financing for the the “Extension of Children’s Museum – amount £2,100” was tabled in the House of Assembly. |
|
1944 |
March 7 |
Additional financing for the “Extension of Children’s Museum was Passed by the House, the Resolution receives the Governor’s Assent. |
|
1945 |
March |
The Council appoints Norah Bowen to assist in the organization of the Children’s Museum. After about six months of work preparing maps, slides, and other illustrative material for the new department, Miss Bowen resigned. |
|
1946 |
August 1 |
Mrs. Frank Sweet assumes duties as Guide Teacher for the Children’s Museum. She is assisted by her husband. Mrs Sweet resigns in September, 1950 |
|
1947 |
February 3 |
The Children’s Museum opens to the reception of school classes. |
|
1949 |
May |
New Curator (later changed to Director) Neville Connell assumes duties. |
|
1950 |
July 10 |
Governor Mr. A.W.L. Savage (he was knighted in 1951) opens a new Picture Gallery. The new Gallery houses the collection of water colours and drawings presented by Mrs. Lucy Carrington Wertheim. The exhibition on view in the Gallery is a loan collection of some 50 prints and lithographs of the West Indies lent by Hon. J.D. Chandler, Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Chandler, Sir Edward Cunard, Victor Marson, Esq., and E.M. Shilstone. |
|
1950 |
|
During the Christmas term it is decided, on the recommendation of the Director of Education, that after March 31, 1951, the Children’s Museum should cease to hold classes for school children. The unspent balance of the Grant made under the Colonial Development and Welfare Act, is spent on the purchase of showcases, models and diagrams. |
|
1951 |
May
|
On the suggestion of Ronald Tree, the Barbados Museum Collections Fund is established with a generous contribution of $150,000 by Tree who offered to make it an annual contribution. The object of the fund is to purchase furniture, silver, china, and other material relating to the island’s history |
|
1955 |
June 3 |
Governor Sir Robert Arundell opens Coronation Gallery. |
|
1973 |
November 23 |
The Minister of Education, Youth Affairs, Community Development and Sport, Erskine Sandiford opens a refurnished and redecorated Library named in honour of Eustace Maxwell Shilstone. |
|
1985 |
|
the Aall Gallery is opened at the end of June 1985. The initial exhibit consisted of maps of Barbados, most of them from the Aall collection. |
|
1992 |
March |
Renovated Children’s Gallery reopens |
|
1993 |
The Enslaved Burial Ground at Newton is bequeathed to the Museum. This historic site contains almost six hundred burial sites and the Museum is committed to its protection, preservation, and interpretation as a site of memory for generations of enslaved people and as a legacy for their descendants. |