Caribbean Archives Conference, 1965

Abstract

some time, historians, archivists, and librarians have been concerned about the preservation of the source materials pertaining to West Indian history. In June 1963 the Council of the University of the West Indies discussed the desirability of a conference of the custodians and scholars interested in such materials. In February 1964 the Council nominated a standing committee to assume responsibility for organizing a conference. The committee included representatives of the Government of Jamaica, the Jamaica Archives, the Institute of Jamaica, and the University of the West Indies. The first Caribbean Archives Conference, which was financially supported by the Government of Jamaica, was held at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, between September 20 and 27, 1965. Delegates came from Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, British Guiana, British Honduras, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Montserrat, the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, and the Virgin Islands of the United States. In addition to institutional representatives from various cultural organizations in Jamaica, the following institutions from other islands and countries were represented: the OAS, Unesco, the University of Puerto Rico, the Societe d'Histoire de la Guadeloupe, the Instituto Panamericano de Geografia e Historia, the Escuela de Estudios Hispano-Americanos of Spain, the Public Archives of Canada, and the Consulate General of Colombia. The general sessions of the Conference were devoted to three major matters: (1) the location and availability of public and private records in the Caribbean countries; (2) the location and availability of archival material abroad; and (3) general professional and technical problems in surveying, appraising, storing, administering, and repairing records and in recruiting and training archivists.