Country’s Participation in Memory of the World Programme to be Strengthened

The Ministry of Youth and Culture is taking steps to strengthen Jamaica’s participation in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Memory of the World Programme.

This was noted by Portfolio Minister, Hon. Lisa Hanna, during a press conference held at the Ministry’s Trafalgar Road offices on Wednesday, November 26.

Miss Hanna said that UNESCO has made available the services of Library Consultant/Researcher, Miss Elizabeth Watson, to enhance the Memory of the World Project, not only in Jamaica, but across the Caribbean.

“She is well qualified to undertake this role and we look forward to working with her to promote and improve the number of collections from Jamaica and the Caribbean as part of the Memory of the World,” she added.

The aim of the Memory of the World Programme is to facilitate preservation, by the most appropriate techniques, of the world’s documentary heritage; assist universal access to documentary heritage; and to increase awareness worldwide of the existence and significance of documentary heritage.

It is a UNESCO initiative which seeks to identify, publicize and preserve the documentary heritage of the world, so as to make those documents of great historical significance permanently accessible.

Miss Hanna noted that there is much in Jamaica to be shared with the world as part of the Memory of the World.

“We wish to increase the number of collections from Jamaica on the regional and international registers through a strategic, focused and deliberate programme.  We want to improve the quality of our submissions by building the capacity of our teams who will do the research and make the submissions,” she said.

In addition, Miss Hanna informed that the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO has established a Memory of the World Committee which has been mandated to: identify national documentary heritage and place them on a national register; and nominate documentary heritage resources through the regional Memory of the World Committee for ultimate inscription to the International Register.

She noted that to date, Jamaica has had two collections listed on the International Register.  These include the ‘Registry of Slaves of the British Caribbean between 1817 and 1834’ and ‘Silver Men: West Indian Labourers at the Panama Canal’.

The Regional Register contains seven collections from Jamaica including:  Helen Adelaide Wood Collection, Natural History Museum of Jamaica (2010); Indentureship Collection, Jamaica Archives and Records Department (2010); Minute Book of the Institute of Jamaica, National Library of Jamaica (2010); The Patents (Land Grants) 1661-1940/Jamaica Archives and Records Department (2014); Registry of Slaves of the British Caribbean (2011); Roger Mais Collection/The Library, University of the West Indies (2014); and the Silver Men: West Indian Labourers at the Panama Canal.