Avni Rouse
St. Michael, Barbados

completed a 2004 US/ICOMOS Internship with the

Jekyll Island Museum
Jekyll Island, Georgia, USA

Avni Rouse conducted his internship on Jekyll Island, one of Georgia's most beautiful and historic barrier islands.  Located on the Atlantic coast of the southeastern United States, Jekyll Island has been home to or visited by numerous groups, including Native Americans, English colonists, French privateers. In the late 19th century, the island became the exclusive retreat of members of the Jekyll Island Club, some of the wealthiest and most prominent families in the United States. Today, the Jekyll Island Club National Historic Landmark District is a 240-acre, riverfront compound and one of the largest on-going restoration projects in the Southeastern United States.

Avni came to Jekyll Island from the Barbados Museum & Historical Society as the first internship of what is planned as a long-term US/ICOMOS exchange program with the Caribbean region.  Avni's duties were varied, and included repairing historic windows and shutters, monitoring the temperature and humidity of the historic buildings, and fumigating historic furniture using a nitrogen tent.

Beginning his internship in September, Avni was working on Jekyll Island during the height of hurricane season, and several hurricanes threatened Jekyll Island.  Therefore, his internship initially revolved around assisting the Jekyll Island Museum staff with hurricane preparedness to protect the historic structures from wind and possibly rain damage.  This aspect of his internship, in particular, is particularly relevant to Avni as he returns to Barbados.

Avni's internship at Jekyll Island overlapped with the US/ICOMOS US-Russia Volunteer Initiative, which brought three Russian volunteers to Jekyll Island for a one-month exchange, adding yet another international dimension to the US/ICOMOS International Intern Exchange Program.

This internship was sponsored by Jekyll Island Museum with
additional support from private donors.

Top: Avni Rouse repairs windows and shutters on Jekyll Island.
Bottom: Evgeny Aksenov, Olga Polstyankina, and Ekaterina Borrisova,
Russian participants in the US-Russia Volunteer Initiative,
with Avni Rouse, 2004 US/ICOMOS International Intern.
 

The US/ICOMOS International Intern Exchange Program is funded by a variety sources.  Each of the host organizations in the U.S. contribute funds that cover a substantial portion of the costs for interns from overseas.  Grants from private foundations and individual donors support the internships for U.S. preservationists traveling overseas, with additional support from some of the overseas host organizations.  The 2004 overseas internships were supported by the Dorothy-Ann Foundation, Marpat Foundation, Keepers Fund for Historic Preservation, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Trust for Mutual Understanding, and contributions from numerous individuals.