Three Historical Collections Get Prestigious UNESCO Award

Three of Jamaica’s outstanding historical collections have been given special awards by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in recognition of the significance of the country’s heritage to the international community.

The collections, ‘Protector of Immigrants’, ‘Registry of Slaves’, and ‘Silver Men of the Panama Canal’, contain records of Jamaica’s heritage during the period of slavery, Asiatic indentured immigration, and involvement in the construction of the Panama Canal. They have been incorporated in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, and have been awarded two special Plaques of Inscription.

The plaques were unveiled Thursday, June 27, by Minister with Responsibility for Information, Senator the Hon. Sandrea Falconer, during a ceremony at the offices of the Jamaica Archives and Records Department (JARD) in Spanish Town, St. Catherine.

Delivering the keynote address, Senator Falconer, described the unveiling as a “proud moment for Jamaica”. She said incorporation of the collections on the prestigious UNESCO register is a “fine tribute to the hard working staff of the Jamaica Archives and Records Department”.

“Our inclusion in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register is a significant testimony to the quality and importance of our archival information. I have no doubt that, in time, other aspects of our historical memory will also similarly be recognised,” the Minister said.

She pointed out that the unveilings is a strong signal of the administration’s “commitment and intention to continue the excellent work of preserving and making Jamaica’s historical records “matters of world and personal significance”.

“I want to thank UNESCO, the Regional Office for the Caribbean, the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO, the Jamaica Archives (and Records Department) and all of those (stakeholders) who, over the years, have helped us to preserve and make accessible, such records of world significance,” the Minister said.

In her remarks, Government Archivist, Claudette Thomas, welcomed the recognition accorded the collections, while expressing the hope that “Jamaicans will seek to become (more) aware of the documentary heritage of this country.”

She also expressed gratitude to the Office of the Prime Minister, under whose purview JARD falls, UNESCO, the Local Memory of the World Registry Committee, Ministry of Youth and Culture, and the University of the West Indies (UWI), for their support in “facilitating the achievement of another significant milestone”.

Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO Programme Manager, Dr. Maria Smith, said that the collections are “important to our individual and our collective identities.”

She said the Commission remains “committed to its mandate of seeking to advance the nation through education, science, culture, communication, and information.”

Chairperson of the Local UNESCO Memory of the World Committee, Winsome Harrison, in commending JARD, said the incorporation of the three listings on the Register from any single country is a “major accomplishment”, noting that “it is not an easy thing to get listed on the Memory of the World Register.”

“I am very happy to be sharing in this very proud moment for JARD. And to the staff…I say do enjoy this feeling of accomplishment,” she said.

Mayor of Spanish Town, Councillor Norman Scott, said the recognition accorded the three collections, places into context the relevance and importance of records and archives “which are major sources of information that form part of the cultural and documentary heritage of Jamaica.”

The Jamaica Archives and Records Department is the sole government entity mandated to preserve Jamaica’s cultural and documentary heritage for posterity. Its main purpose is to preserve records of government which on paper and in electronic and audio/visual formats.

Contact: Douglas McIntosh