‘A Stitch in Time’

THE STORY OF A LOCAL HISTORIAN WHO NOT ONLY USED WORDS BUT HAND EMBROIDERED CREATIONS TO DOCUMENT HISTORY OF HER FAMILY’S ISLAND RESORT.

Blog by Patricia Bissessar
At the Angelo Heritage House in Belmont , in the room designated the Sewing Room adorning one of the walls are two antique linen cross stitch samplers from Barbados, embroidered by sisters Hannah and Barbara Monteith in 1804. Aside from being unique to the region (cloth does not survive well in tropical weather) they are poignant and simple in their execution and showcase the needle work skills of these two sisters that time has long forgotten. For as long as women have been sewing, they've been using embroidery to tell their own stories. History lives on in their stories. This blog ‘A Stitch in Time” is a story of one of our local historians and author of the book Voices in the Street, Olga Mavrogordato née Boos who used embroidery stitches and techniques to create family heirlooms that captured memories pertaining to distinguished guests who spent time at the Boos family resort on Huevos Island.
For those unfamiliar with Trinidad , Huevos is the second island out from Trinidad’s mainland in the Bocas Islands of the Dragon’s Mouth, which protects the Northern end of the Bay of Paria. It lies west of Monos, and east of Chacachacare. Huevos island is owned by the Boos family where once upon a time was visited by royalties and other distinguished guests seeking a holiday escape to a private paradise island in the Caribbean
Our story is about a member of the Boos family, OlgaJohanna Mavrogordato née Boos who was born in Trinidad. OlgaMavrogordato née Boos, was one of the remarkable archivists and historians of Trinidadand Tobago. She described herself “as a creole born in the early 1900s” and claimed that her family’s oral tradition, a sort of collective memory, of most of the nineteenth century served as an inspiration to ignite the spark and passion in her for learning more about and documenting our local history
“Long ago“,according to Geoffrey Mac Lean had this to say when asked what ignited her passion and interest in our local history “ “our parents told us stories of the past, either about our family or the places they knew and the things they did when they were young …… there was time then to sit around and listen, but the pace of life has changed and today our young people, caught up in a jet age, with the vital present and bright future, have no time to look back at the past, or even to wonder about it.”
Mavrogordato accumulated in her lifetime accumulated an extensive collection of historical documents, photographs and rare books, wrote numerous historical papers, but what many people do not know about her was that she was a skilled embroiderer who enjoyed using thread and needles to create works of art using linen fabric as her canvas as much as she did writing and documenting our local history. She used her needle craft skills to create not only artistic work of art but heirloom pieces that would one day serve as a reminder of Huevos island’s glamorous and exciting history.
De Verteuil C.S .Sp ( 2002) in his book Western isles of Trinidad mentioned that Olga’s passion for needle craft began in her younger days when she would use cross stitch and embroidery to create beautiful messages enhanced with embroidery scenes . These works of art, using needle and thread as her artistic tools were then framed and hung in the living room of the Boos’ family. De Vermeil also makes mention of the fact that when Olga served as hostess to the Boos’ Family Resort on Nuevo’s Island invited guests who spent time at the resort when leaving would be invited to sign their autographs on a hand embroidered linen table cloth Olga had made which featured an embroidered map of the island of Huevos. Olga , however , being the historian that she was , when her guests left would erase the signatures of those guests she deemed “ camp followers” , keeping only those of the more distinguished guests which she immortalized on her table cloth using the art of cross stitching. Some of these guests included: The Duke and Duchess of Kent (1935), Sir Anthony Eden (British Prime Minister 1955-57) (1959), Princess Margaret and Lord Hailes (to inaugurate the Federation of the W.I. in 1958), Princess Royal (1960), Princess Margaret and her husband on their honey-moon (1960) and Lord Mountbatten of Burma (1965).
According to De Verteuil ( 2002) , when this hand embroidered tablecloth was filled with the signatures of these VIP guests , Olga began work on a new linen tablecloth which featured embroidered maps of Chacacharare , Monos as well as Huevos. As with the first , the second tablecloth was soon filled with signatures of distinguished guests at Huevos and was designed to serve as a means of preserving history of the lavish hospitality of the Boos family at their island Paradise.
Olga Mavrogordato was indeed remarkablewoman . Her artistic creations not only explored the interplay between map images and text, without privileging one over the other but her hand-embroidered pieces told a story with each stitch that was created of Huevos Island’s glamorous and exciting past.
If telling stories is what makes us Human, maybe the time has come for today’s youths to find innovative ways of telling a new story, one stitch at a time .As Betsy Greers, founder of Craftivists (2003) wrote : “We are the makers of our own future. We are the crafters of calmer minds. Our stitches are strength. And hope. And love. For strangers, for loved ones, and most importantly, for ourselves. Because without crafting our best selves, we are less use to others.”
Credit to the following sources
Western Isles of Trinidad ,De Verteuil, Anthony .Published by Paria Publishing Company Ltd., 2011
Geoffrey Mac Lean citizensforconservationtt.org: Olga Mavrogordato’s Voices in the Street.