Introduction
For some time now, I had been planning to visit the National Archives of Barbados (NAB), to research the family roots of my grandfather, who migrated to Saint Lucia from Barbados, just before the First World War. I had hoped that by establishing the details of his birth, I could connect with family who might share his life’s story before he moved to Saint Lucia and the circumstances which led him to do so. Incredibly, the preliminary information given to me by the NAB -which houses baptism, marriage and death records, deeds, and wills-indicated that there are four people with the same name as my grandfather. I was encouraged by NAB officials to set aside at least a week to do a thorough search and verification exercise in Barbados.
Within hours of committing to visit the NAB, in September this year, I received an online news report from “Barbados Today,” that a fire caused by a lightning strike, just before midnight on Monday 17 June, 2024, had destroyed a significant portion of the NAB’s records, including: records of the Vestry; the former local government system dating back to the 17th century; the city council; records of the mental hospital and general hospital; historical court proceedings, including the Court of Chancery; newspaper archives and other official documents. According to the story, details of the fate of other precious documents from Barbados’ 397-year-old past, have not yet been released. These include: the landmark 1661 Slave Code; the proclamation of the abolition of slavery in 1834; and the royal warrant approving Barbados’ Independence in 1966.
I was floored by this news. Quite apart from what it might mean for my family search, I am always distressed when historical, cultural, and heritage records and artifacts that could illuminate a people’s past and inspire their future, are lost. Given the eminent status of these records, the NAB must have believed it had taken all reasonable steps to secure them. Alas!
The fire at the NAB revived sad memories of an equally devastating fire that destroyed Saint Lucia’s Folk Research Centre (FRC), on March 25, 2018. Established in 1973, as a repository for cultural heritage, and as a vehicle for researching, recording and promoting Saint Lucia’s rich heritage, the FRC documents the history, folklore and culture of Saint Lucia in the form of: periodicals; books; video and film on a variety of subjects dating back to the 1960s; and a photographic image library, which contained thousands of images depicting Saint Lucian’s way of life, and their traditions, festivals and personalities. Much of this treasure trove was lost on that fateful night.
At the time it happened, the FRC fire rekindled gut-wrenching memories of the deadly earthquake in Haiti, in 2010. In addition to claiming the lives of 250,000 people, the earthquake destroyed 60 years of public records at the country’s National Archives, including: civil registration papers; administrative documents issued by the presidency, government ministries, Parliament, and Haitian municipalities. To this day, the full extent of the loss has not been ascertained, because there was no systematic storage of material.
These incidents, singly and together, reinforce the need for public and private sector entities in our region, to urgently invest in the proper management of critical records, and artifacts, and their protection from natural disasters. This must be done for four important reasons: (1) because of the critical bearing these records have on the consciousness of citizens and nation, and on national development; (2) because of the unquantifiable impact, that the loss of these records will have on business continuity; (3) because of the region’s high susceptibility to a variety of natural hazards, such as extreme weather events, (tropical cyclones, floods, and droughts), volcanic and seismic activity (earthquakes), and bush fires; and (4) because scientists have predicted with high confidence, that climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which will place buildings everywhere, at great risk.
Identity and Consciousness
Material stored in national archives are vital to our efforts at building a sense of personal and national identity and consciousness. A birth certificate tells us who our parents are, and where we were born, and thus it can also give us a sense of belonging to family, to community and nation, contribute to our wellbeing and boost our confidence. If we are lucky, we can walk into a Civil Status Registry or National Archives-as I had planned to do-to obtain the birth certificates of our parents, and grandparents to build a family history. Personal identity can contribute to national identity, which in turn can promote national consciousness. Being born and raised in Saint Lucia and the Caribbean, and being able to claim the rich history and heritage of my country and region has been priceless.
National Development
Public servants are admonished that “government runs on paper.” That’s also the case with businesses. Even in technologically advanced countries, a paper record of a transaction is produced at some point and then a digital copy is produced. There are many public and private entities that generate records that impact personal and national development, such as the operations of agencies dealing with the registration of moveable and immovable property, motor vehicle, tax, character certificates, physical planning and infrastructure development and company registrations. How these records are stored and how easily and quickly they can be retrieved, can positively or negatively impact a business transaction. Some weeks ago, I shared in this column that after a month of searching its archives, my bank was unable to retrieve my mortgage records from 40 years ago.
Natural disasters
The reality is no area in the Caribbean is completely hazard-free. Consequently, the first line of protection of buildings housing critical records and artifacts, must be to make them as resilient as possible to all known hazards. I do not recall a hazard risk assessment being done at the time the Government Buildings were being erected along the Castries Waterfront, perchance to determine what adjustments must to be made to their design and/or location to protect them from extreme weather, sea level rise (SLR) and storm surges. Since then, at least one study done by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) has confirmed the vulnerability of these buildings to different magnitudes of SLR. I can see no evidence that the recommendations made in this report to strengthen the resilience of any of office buildings on the waterfront, have been implemented.
It is better and cheaper to design and build special-purpose buildings, to house critical records rather than to retrofit them. Unfortunately, many national archives including Saint Lucia’s are housed in historic buildings dating back to the World Wars. In addition to being costly to retrofit and to maintain, internal temperature variations in these buildings-if not controlled using specialized air handling systems and filters-can damage sensitive records and artifacts. Additionally, archives use special boxes, acid free paper, to reduce exposure to light, humidity, and insects which can accelerate their decay. For this reason, most archives use strong rooms, to store archive collections and to protect them from these threats, as well as larger natural disasters such as fire, flooding, and even earthquakes.
The Internet to the Rescue
With the advent of computers, scanners and the internet, the storage of records has dramatically improved. Thanks to “cloud” storage, individuals as well as public and private sector entities can store large amounts of data on mammoth servers owned and managed by “cloud providers” like Google, IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft. Among the many advantages of this cloud service, is that data can be safely and securely accessed using encryption technology, from any location with internet access. However, these strengths can become weaknesses, if Internet connection is unavailable or fails, as has happened during disasters. Moreover, cloud providers can experience their own issues such as power outages and security breaches. Practically everyone who uses the internet would have received at least one alert from an internet company about leakage of their personal data, caused either by technical glitches or hacker activity. Some cloud service providers offer technology that enable customers to access their data, during power shutdowns that usually occur during and after disasters. As far as I am aware, only one Caribbean government has availed itself of this facility.
Unfortunately, many national archives do not have the human, financial, and technological resources to fully digitize records in their possession. Crucially, many Governments have not prioritized giving them the resources to do this. Still, while some records may be available in digital format, the proper storage of original versions of these documents as well as non-paper artifacts is vital.
Conclusion
The recalled incidents in Barbados, Haiti and in Saint Lucia should prompt Caribbean governments to take urgent action to protect all buildings housing critical records and artifacts. Hazard risk assessments of these buildings should be done as a matter of priority and steps taken to protect the critical records they produce and contain.