PI Gunvor Simonsen Visits Archives and Libraries in Martinique and Dominica
For a historian with expertise in the Danish Caribbean – the islands that are today the US Virgin Islands – it was a relief to arrive at Martinique after a short trip of only two flights and 13 hours (travel times from Denmark to the USVI are much longer). At the airport, Lucas Marin, who is currently a PhD student at Université Paris Nanterre and used to be a student assistant at IN THE SAME SEA, and PhD student Louise Salaün (Sorbonne Université) picked me up. Spending the next week with these two talented historians was a pleasure. We discussed where Caribbean history is headed and tried to disentangle the differences between French Caribbean history and the Caribbean research emerging from North American and British research institutions. Tone, argument, and structure: many elements of the narratives and arguments differ and enrich how to appreciate the Caribbean past. The Université des Antilles research library for Caribbean history was excellent. Its collection regarding Martinican and Guadeloupean history will certainly expand my knowledge. But of course, historical knowledge is not merely made in libraries and archives. For a project about maritime fugitives, the shorelines and the many small boats along the Martinican coastline provided materiality to the many descriptions of fugitives in manuscript sources. It was a boost to my imagination.
Yoles (or in Danish joller) along the Martinican shoreline, 2025, photo: G. Simonsen.
Sufficiently drugged with travel-sickness medication, the two-hour ferry ride from Martinique to Dominica was the dramatic high point of the trip. Efficient and friendly ferry staff distributed plastic bags while the sound of … well, you can guess … circulated in the cabin. Fortunately, the waves became less powerful as the ferry approached Dominica. Soon, a hotel and bed provided a much-needed (non-moving) ground. On the return trip, the sea was calm, and so was I.
I spent time in the Dominica National Archives. With an efficient staff of five, a well-equipped reading room, and a rich collection of early nineteenth-century records, it was a pleasure doing research there. The amount of material was so overwhelming that I might need to return. During my stay, we discussed the challenges of being an archive in a small independent island state. We also discussed the various digitized sources for Dominican history available today and the challenges of accessing them in Dominica.
View of Gunvor and the excellent working conditions at Dominica National Archives, photo: courtesy of archival staff, 2025.
And finally, for me there can be no description of Dominica, without noting the kindness of the people I met and the astonishing beauty of its nature. Driving along the windward shoreline, visiting the Kalinago territory, attempting to row a river boat (down river), visiting the botanical garden of Roseau … Hopefully, I will become a better historian of the Caribbean with all these impressions at the back of my mind.
The Atlantic coast of Dominica, photo: G. Simonsen, 2025.