Records at risk – St. Lucia News from The Voice

introduce

For some time, I had been planning to visit the National Archives of Barbados (NAB) to research the family roots of my grandfather, who migrated from Barbados to St. Lucia on the eve of World War I. I hoped that by ascertaining his birth details, I could connect with his family who could share stories of his life before he migrated to St. Lucia and what prompted him to do so. Incredibly, the preliminary information provided to me by the NAB (which holds baptismal, marriage and death records, deeds and wills) indicated that there were four people with the same name as my grandfather. NAB officials encouraged me to allow at least a week in Barbados to conduct a thorough search and verification.

In September of this year, just hours after deciding to visit the NAB, I received an online news report from the Barbados Today newspaper that a fire caused by a lightning strike just before midnight on Monday, June 17, 2024, destroyed most of the NAB’s records, including: records of church committees; the former local government system dating back to the 17th century; city councils; records of mental hospitals and general hospitals; historical court proceedings, including the Court of Chancery; newspaper archives and other official documents. Details of the fate of other precious documents from 397 years ago in Barbados have not been made public, according to the report. These documents include: the landmark 1661 Slave Code; the 1834 Proclamation abolishing slavery; and the Royal Warrant granting Barbados’ independence in 1966.

I was devastated by this news. Aside from what it means for my family’s search, I am always heartbroken when historical, cultural and heritage records and artifacts that can illuminate a people’s past and inspire their future are lost. Given the prominence of these records, the National Archives must have thought it had taken every reasonable step to preserve them. Alas!

The fire at NAB is reminiscent of an equally devastating fire on March 25, 2018, which destroyed the Folklore Research Center (FRC) in Saint Lucia. Established in 1973 as a repository of cultural heritage and a vehicle for studying, documenting and promoting Saint Lucia’s rich heritage, the FRC documented Saint Lucia’s history, folklore and culture in the form of journals, books, videos and films on a variety of subjects dating back to the 1960s, and a photographic library containing thousands of images depicting Saint Lucian lifestyles, traditions, festivals and personalities. Much of this treasure trove was lost on that tragic night.

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At the time of the fire, the FRC fire revived painful memories of the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Not only did the earthquake kill 250,000 people, it also destroyed 60 years of public records in the country’s national archives, including: civil registry documents; administrative documents issued by the presidential palace, government ministries, parliament and Haitian municipalities. As there was no systematic storage of the material, it is still impossible to determine the extent of the damage.

Individually and collectively, these events highlight the need for urgent investments by public and private sector entities in our region to properly manage vital records and artifacts and protect them from natural disasters. This is imperative for four reasons: (1) these records are critical to civic and national consciousness and national development; (2) their loss would have unquantifiable impacts on business continuity; (3) the region is highly vulnerable to a wide range of natural hazards, such as extreme weather events (tropical cyclones, floods, and droughts), volcanic and seismic activity (earthquakes), and bushfires; and (4) scientists predict with high confidence that climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, placing buildings everywhere at great risk.

Identity and consciousness

The materials stored in the National Archives are vital in our efforts to build a sense of personal and national identity and consciousness. A birth certificate tells us who our parents are and where we were born, so it also gives us a sense of belonging to our family, community and country, contributing to our well-being and boosting our confidence. If we are lucky, we can walk into the Civil Registry or the National Archives – as I plan to do – and 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 contribute to national consciousness. Being born and raised in Saint Lucia and the Caribbean, it is priceless to have the rich history and heritage of my country and region at my disposal.

National Development

Civil servants are warned that “government runs on paper.” The same is true for businesses. Even in technologically advanced countries, transactions at some point generate paper records that are then followed by digital copies. Many public and private entities generate records that impact individuals and national development, such as the operations of agencies responsible for movable and immovable property registration, motor vehicle registration, taxation, character certification, physical planning and infrastructure development, and company registration. How these records are stored, and how easily and quickly they can be retrieved, can have a positive or negative impact on business transactions. A few weeks ago, I shared in this column that after a month of searching its archives, my bank was unable to retrieve my mortgage record from 40 years ago.

natural disaster

The reality is that no area of ​​the Caribbean is completely hazard-free. Therefore, the first line of defence in protecting buildings that house important records and artefacts must be to make them as resilient as possible to all known hazards. I do not recall that a hazard risk assessment was conducted when the government buildings on the Castries waterfront were constructed, perhaps to determine what adjustments must 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 conducted by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) has confirmed the vulnerability of these buildings to varying degrees of SLR. I have seen no evidence that the recommendations made in this report to strengthen the resilience of waterfront office buildings have been implemented.

It is better and cheaper to design and construct a dedicated building to house important records than to remodel them. Unfortunately, many national archives, including St. Lucia’s, are housed in historic buildings dating back to the World Wars. In addition to being expensive to remodel and maintain, these buildings can damage sensitive records and artifacts if their internal temperature changes are not controlled using specialized air handling systems and filters. In addition, 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 vaults to store archival collections and protect them from these threats as well as larger natural disasters such as fires, floods, and even earthquakes.

Internet to the rescue

With the advent of computers, scanners, and the internet, the storage of records has improved dramatically. With “cloud” storage, individuals and public and private sector entities can store large amounts of data on vast servers owned and managed by “cloud” providers such as Google, IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft. One of the many advantages of this cloud service is that the data can be securely accessed from anywhere with internet access using encryption. However, these strengths can turn into weaknesses if the internet connection is unavailable or fails (as can happen during a disaster). In addition, cloud providers can experience their own problems, such as power outages and security breaches. Almost everyone who uses the internet has received at least one alert from an internet company informing them of a breach of their personal data, either due to a technical glitch or hacker activity. Some cloud service providers offer technology that enables customers to access their data during the power outages that typically occur during and after a disaster. To my knowledge, only one Caribbean government has taken advantage of this facility.

Unfortunately, many national archives lack the human, financial and technical resources to fully digitize the records they hold. Crucially, many governments do not prioritize providing them with the resources to do this. While some records may be available in digital format, it is critical that the original versions of these documents, as well as non-paper artifacts, are properly stored.

in conclusion

Events in Barbados, Haiti and St. Lucia should prompt Caribbean governments to take urgent action to protect all buildings that house vital records and artifacts. Risk assessments of these buildings should be a priority, and measures should be taken to protect the vital records produced and preserved in them.