Museum displays treasure of stamps
With email, internet, and gradually declining international telephone rates, most of us don’t write as many letters as we used to….which means we are also losing our familiarity with stamps. But those tiny square bits of paper, as News 5’s Jacqueline Woods discovered, are not just for the postman.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The exhibition entitled Stamps of Belize is a first for the museum. The collection, which dates back one hundred and forty years, is the property of Meg Craig and her family. David Craig says he knew about the stamps his mother kept for over forty years but not until the collection was put on display did he realize just how much she had saved.
David Craig, Meg Craig?s Son
“No, I had no idea. I know that she calls us every time the hurricane come around to help her get the things safely stored away, but I had no idea. Of course we use to give her all the stamps that we got, but we didn’t know that she was doing such a masterful collection and taking care of them is really, really a tribute.”
Today the collection made its public debut at…what else…the Craig Gallery on the ground floor of the Museum of Belize. The visual exhibit took two months to prepare and is a joint effort by the National Institute of Culture and History, the General Post Office of Belize, and the Craig family.
Emelia Cayetano, Supervisor, Belize Philatelic Bureau
?Today we are looking at stamps that are a part of the history of our country, stamps from way back 1865 to the present. It is a very, very wide collection, very interesting, educational, it tells us the history of the whole movement of the post office, how mails and stamps were introduced into our country.
Victor Espat, Administrator, NICH
This exhibit provides a chronicle of our history. These stamps tell the story of our colonial beginnings, they should take us back to the logwood and mahogany camps, they should remind us of the struggles of our forefathers, the birth of an independent nation, these stamps should allow us to marvel at the natural beauty of our country.
At the opening ceremony former post master general Charles Hyde reminded us that stamp collection is not only an interesting hobby and great investment, but its real value lies in the wealth of information it provides.
Charles Hyde, Former Post Master General
A collector of Belizean stamps who lives in a foreign country would discover that as our national anthem says, ?nature has blessed us with wealth untold?, that we have a great love for the environment and we are conscious of rich tradition and culture. We are a democracy and we are a peace-loving and patriotic people.
Meg Craig, who prefers to stay out of the lime light, is just pleased to have afforded Belizeans an opportunity to learn more about their country through her personal collection.
David Craig
She is interested in collecting everything. She?s just a collector, I think Yasser referred to her as collector extraordinaire and really, she sets no barriers to collecting, she just collects. And it?s incredible the way she preserves it, without any formal training. So we are very, very proud of her and I?m proud of NICH for honouring her like this. Now we know that we have the stamps in a safe place and for the people of Belize to come and see.
Hyde, in his address, also paid tribute to the stamp advisory committee which he says is largely responsible for Belize being so highly rated among the one hundred and twenty-five postal administrations of the world. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
The Craig Family says the stamp collection is just one of the many cultural and historical displays they plan to exhibit in the gallery.
