Photograph Collections:

  • Historic Buildings (LOC-HABS/HAER)

    Adrian steam engine

    An extensive series of photographs and architectural drawings of historic buildings on St John. These works were drawn from the Libary of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey Collection.

  • Family Album of Anna Dohm Nose

    Dohm Family on their vessel, “Rest More”

    It was front page news on December 21, 1937, the local Daily News in fact, when Peter and Elsa Dohm and family arrived in their 10 meter yawl, Restmore, after a five year voyage. When the voyage began, Anna was four months old. Thus begins a family album covering the activities of this adventurous and entrepreneurial family. Luckily for us, this family believed in cameras and keepsakes, for Anna’s family album chronicles, with a small hiatus for the war years, the development of Cruz Bay and Red Hook from the 1930’s to the 1970’s.

  • St Thomas Scenes

    Market Place in Charlotte Amalie

    The St Thomas Scenes collection contains old photographs of St Thomas.

  • St John Images: 1930s - 1970s, by Dr George H. H. Knight

    Anna Knight at Girda Marsh’s cottage in Coral Bay

    The collection, St John Images: 1930s - 1970s, contains photographs by Dr George H. H. Knight.

  • Scrapbook

    Transfer Day Celebration

    The Scrapbook collection contains old photographs of St Thomas by H. Petersen taken about the time of the transfer of the Danish islands to the United States. The series includes images of the transfer celebrations in 1917, the aftermath of the 1916 hurricane, the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, and various rural scenes.

  • Grandma Raised the Roof

    With Donkeys

    Thanks to the generosity of Amy Roberts, here is a series of black and white photos taken by Ethel McCully during the construction of her “Island Fancy” hide away at Maho Bay. Of course it was this house that was the subject of her now famous book: “Grandma Raised the Roof”. It is great to obtain and preserve this part of the Island’s history… (Please note that included in the Peter Ernst photos are several pictures from the 1970s of Ms. McCully and her home at Maho.)

  • St. John-Impressions Of A Happy Island

    Miss Lucy

    In 1975, Part–time St. John resident Peter Ernst published a marvelous St. John picture book known as “St. John-Impressions Of A Happy Island.” He published the book under the pseudonym Peter Buruba. All of the colored pictures were taken with his Hasselblad, a Swedish square format film camera… a type of camera that he still uses to this day. It seems that Peter first came to St. John as a young man in 1958, and one of the first persons he met was Miss Lucy Smith who showed him around the Island. He, like so many other visitors to St. John immediately fell in love with the island and on one of his many visits, some 10 years later, met the Gibneys and bought some land at Denis Bay from them. He named the property Buruba, after the largest tree on the property. (Peter explains that Buruba is a derivative and contraction of the first and last three letters of the Latin name for gumbo limbo, or Bursera simaruba.) Peter spent 5 years building his home and was a part–time resident on St. John up through the early 1980s, at which time his business ventures in Europe began taking more of his time. Over the years Peter has taken in excess of 60,000 pictures and has published a number of other books under the name of Peter Stella. Peter has graciously allowed the Historical Society to post his incredible pictures, taken in the 1970s, on our website. For this, we are most grateful, as it will provide greater access to his incredible photographic works.

  • SJHS Events

    2006 Field Trip to Susanaberg

    The SJHS Events collection includes montage arrangements of images taken during SJHS events.

  • Who? Where?

    CCC Work Crew in Calabash Boom, c1938

    The Who? Where? collection includes early images of the island and its landmarks.

  • Way It Was

    US Customs House, c1960

    The Way It Was collection includes early images of the island and its landmarks.

  • Postcards

    Ox Mill

    The Postcards collection includes early images of the island and the region.

  • St John Scenes

    Cruz Bay Dock, c1940

    The St John Scenes collection includes early images of the island and its landmarks.