IT’S a modern edifice, one that evokes curiosity and rightly so. It houses what can be termed some of Guyana’s treasures: its history in documents that date back to as early as 1835. It’s the Archives, now in a new impressive building on Homestretch Avenue. The Walter Rodney Archives, named after prominent historian Walter Rodney, who was assassinated in 1980, has aided Guyana in becoming accepted on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s Heritage List.
It was accepted last year, for the unique information the organisation has on East Indian indentured records, according to Culture, Youth and Sport Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony.
“We have applied and brought to their attention our unique archival material in Guyana, which does not exist anywhere else in the world; and as such, what we have here is important to the entire humanity,” he said.
Guyana has also been recognized for the Dutch West Indian records of the 1853, which are the oldest documents currently in the Archives.
Minister Anthony highlighted that discussions are also ongoing with officials from the United Kingdom, to have a newspaper archives on Guyana procured.
“We feel that we need to add a newspaper archives and during this year, we want to put in some of these archival materials like what is currently in the archives of the United Kingdom,” he said.
The Ministry of Culture, during 2011, enhanced its functions by conducting several management courses in record keeping that have benefitted scores of persons from the various ministries and governmental organisations.
Apart from disseminating information, the National Archives also hosts an annual independence pictorial exhibition on May 26, which features the country’s struggle for independence.
Government will also be collaborating with the Commonwealth to have archiving experts conduct training sessions with archivists from the Walter Rodney Archives.
The institution contains primary source documents which are valuable for administrative purposes and historical research, and also houses several gazettes where all official government acts are published. This is useful for persons who are looking for transports.
To ensure that the documents are kept clean and away from pests, the Ministry of Culture recently constructed a record centre in the compound of the National Archives, where documents collected are cleaned before being stored in an air-conditioned binding room.
The institution’s staffers will be producing a publication shortly, which will set-out guidelines to assess persons who are custodians of records on how to use and store the information for future reference.
Discussions are also ongoing with representatives in the United States to have experts visit Guyana to conduct appraisals of audio and video records. This will be necessary as the Ministry of Culture is looking to have an audio and video archives established in the near future.
Last year, approximately 800 researchers, inclusive of locals and tourists, visited the National Archives to conduct research; and according to Dr. Anthony, the figure is expected to double this year.
Since its establishment in 1958, it has been significantly assisting historians, genealogists, lawyers, demographers, filmmakers and university students in conducting research.
In 1982, the National Archives Act was passed, establishing the archives as a department.