History Provides the Gift of Foresight

As a teenager I had the pleasure of spending several summers as a Junior Curator (JC) at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. As a JC, I assisted with the installation of exhibits, tours of the Museum, local data collection for research projects, and spent countless hours in the Shilstone Memorial Library. The latter comprises of a carefully curated collection of over 7,000 monographs, journals and pamphlets on Barbadian history and heritage, a Slavery Archive, original maps of Barbados, a rare and digital book collection of 17th, 18th and 19th century imprints. During the summers, we also explored the local museums as well as the Barbados National Archives. The latter we used to trace our extensive family trees as a way of discovering our Ancestry and to peruse local political historical events. So, I join with other Barbadians to express my sadness on the news of the June 18th, 2024, Fire of the roof of Building 4 of the Barbados National Archives.

For me, the news hit home a bit too closely because the office of the Shridath Ramphal Center for International Trade Law, Policy, and Services (SRC) is housed in the Owen Arthur CARICOM Research Building at the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus. On the top floor of our building sits the Owen S. Arthur Special Collection which was gifted to the Sidney Martin Library upon Professor Arthur’s retirement and appointment to the University. Professor Arthur was immensely proud of the Special Collection and always welcomed students and scholars to view and utilise the Collection. The Special Collection was not simply a place of awe and wonder but a resource utilised on a daily basis by its owner. In the words of Swiss philosopher Henri Amiel, “everything you need for a better future and success has already been written. And guess what? All you have to do is go to the library.” (1821-1881) With these words in mind, and as the University confronts a post-Covid-19 pandemic and our students became graduates, the University has transformed how we deliver several products namely the continuation of the online, whether synchronous or asynschronous, delivery of classes. With this thrust, our physical facilities are no longer transversed by just hundreds of physical students, instead we now have thousands utilising our online resources.

Professor of Practice the Right Honourable Owen Seymour Arthur was never a fan of pomp and pageantry. Oftentimes when asked to provide a biography as a means of a public introduction in a forum, He simply said, “introduce me as Owen Arthur, the 5th Prime Minister of Barbados.” As a student and an employee of the former PM, you were always tasked with knowing the philosophy and specifically the history behind key defining moments and policies. So, for a young policymaker, understanding the ethos behind the slogan of “Having a University graduate in every Barbadian household” or his drive for the need to have a functioning CARICOM Single Market and Economy was crucial for forward thinking and furthering the development of Barbados and by extension the region.

As a means of continuing to build on the work of Professor Arthur, the SRC coordinates and hosts the annual Distinguished Owen S. Arthur Memorial Lecture (DOSAM). The Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados, Dr. Kevin Greenidge, in preparation for his delivery of the 3rd DOSAM Lecture, benefitted from the Special Collection. As a result, this Barbadian son of the soil was driven to provide greater access to all Barbadians to read and utilise the Owen S Arthur Special Collection when he announced during the lecture held on September 28th 2023 that “the Central Bank of Barbados will work with the Shridath Ramphal Center (SRC) and the Cave Hill Campus to organise and digitise the works and files of PM Owen Arthur so that they can be made available to the researchers to draw inspiration from.” The Governor received an immediate and lasting applause and I do believe that our Ancestors smiled.

The journey of digitisation requires several carefully coordinated stages guided by key technicians from the Archivist to the Special Collections Librarian to the Audiovisual Department to including the Information Communications and Technology staff to a core cadre of Academics. Also vital are trained personnel who understand document handling, cleaning and storing to assist with the process of selecting, classifying, cataloguing, scanning, and uploading to an online cloud system for storage. The process to digitise such a Special Collection is not for the faint of heart but for those who steel their loins and understand that daily toils and labours in the vineyards will eventually bear fruit. After all, the metaphor goes “the day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.” As we prepare for the upcoming 4th DOSAM, we hope to launch Phase 1 of the Digitised Owen S Arthur Special Collection to the public via the Sidney Martin Library on the UWI Cave Hill Campus.

Dr. Kai-Ann Skeete, Trade Research Fellow of the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy & Services of The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill.