Junior Sunshine Girls to donate 18th-century map of Jamaica to the National Library
THE Jamaica Under-21 Netball Team will be donating an 18th-century map of Jamaica to the National Library of Jamaica (NLJ) this Tuesday at 10:30 am.
The president of Netball Jamaica, Marva Bernard, and members of the Junior Sunshine Girls will be in attendance to officially hand over this historical map to be a part of the nation’s collected history and heritage.
“We are happy to donate this gift to the Jamaican people through the National Library,” Bernard said. “And we hope that Jamaicans can benefit from the map’s rich contribution to our history for centuries to come.”
A valuable addition to the NLJ’s map collection, the map was a gift given to the national team by Professor Emeritus Godfrey Palmer of Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Palmer, a proud Jamaican, was present at the third-place play-off match during the International Netball Competition in Glasgow in August, where the Junior Sunshine Girls defeated arch-rivals England 52-33 to capture the bronze medal.
“The presentation in Glasgow to Netball Jamaica, of the 1729 map of Jamaica, was a small token of thanks to the management and team for the wonderful display of talent and excellence during the International Netball Competition in Glasgow in August 2013,” Palmer said about his initial donation to the team.
The National Library of Jamaica is ecstatic to have another historical map of Jamaica to add to its already prestigious collection.
“We are just so pleased that Netball Jamaica thought of this institution as the best place to donate a gift that was presented to the Under-21 Sunshine Girls, for their success at the recently held World Youth Championships. Their performance was spectacular and we are truly proud of them,” said Valerie Francis, the Acquisitions Librarian at the National Library of Jamaica.
The National Library of Jamaica is Jamaica’s premier research library, whose main focus is on collecting, preserving and facilitating access to Jamaica’s history and cultural heritage. The NLJ is located at 12 East Street, Kingston.
