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Date: October 2004

Foreword

  Hello to all CARBICA members. The Vienna Congress was a big success. CARBICA was well represented and we had organized two wonderful sessions. The CARBICA representatives did a good job. I hereby want to thank all those who have given a contribution to the realization of the two sessions. My special thanks go to: Mr. Charles Gibson, Ms. Elizabeth Williams, Ms. Helena Leonce, Mrs. Margot Thomas, Mrs. Victoria Borg O’Flaherty, Dominique Taffin and Mr. Erwin Gibbes for their special con¬tribution. I have to thank also Marvin Pook, Katriina Simila and Magdalena Fuenzalida for their
valuable contribution to the ICCROM-CARBICA session. Furthermore I have to announce that during the General Assembly, it has been approved that the CITRA 2006 is to be organized in Curaçao. This means that we have to prepare ourselves for this important event and challenge. I am sure that I can count on your support as usual.
Another concern I want to ask your attention for is the assistance that some of our colleagues may be in need of related to the recovering from damages caused by hurricane Ivan. Although

Reports
P. 3 ACURIL 2004 in Trinidad
P. 3 A new home for Archives of the West Indies
Federation
P. 3 Moreau de Saint-Méry conference

Chosen for you
P. 3-4 New books
P. 4 Coming events
P. 4 CUBA activities
P. 4 ACURIL 2005

Council of Archives
Director of publication : Nolda Römer Kenepa, National Archives of the Netherlands Antilles Editing secretary : Dominique Taffin, Archives of Martinique Editorial comittee : Nolda Römer-Kenepa, Dominique Taffin,
Victoria Borg O’Flaherty (Archives of St Kitts), Helena Leonce (Archives of Trinidad) Contact : bonjean@cg972.fr Registration of copyright in France (Martinique) ISSN : coming Circulation : 200 copies End of printing : May 2004 Page make-up : Gil Pierre-Louis, Archives of Martinique Translation : Corinne Bonjean, Archives of Martinique
I can imagine that all your attention is given to other priorities at this moment I have to suggest you to make a survey of the damages so we can have an idea of the extent of the damages in question and consequently the assistance that is needed. After receiving this information I will be contacting those who are in need of some assistance.
Nolda Römer-Kenepa The President of CARBICA, 2002-2005

Word of the editors
This newsletter is yours. To make it the true reflection of archival activity in the Carribbean, your contributions are welcome. Please send your contributions to bonjean@cg972.fr.





Vienna 2004 : Carbica General Assembly
Carbica members attending : Roger Craig, Elizabeth Williams, Marvin Pook, Osvaldo Bebela¬gua, Sonia Black, Guilita Faubert, Jean-Wilfrid Bertrand, Nolda Romer, Dominique Taffin
Guests : Katriina Simila (ICCROM), Magdalena Fuenzalida (CNCR – Chili) About 20 Carbica members could make it to come to Vienna.

1)Participation of Carbica members in international projects
Nolda Römer has been called to chair the Education commission in the new ICA Program commission (2004-2008).

2) Carbica activities, past and to come
-Communication
The president insists on the importance of keeping updated information about contacts, and on the part played by the EC members to relay information in their area. Efforts have been made to improve communication between members and out of Carbica. The
opening of the website, just before the ICA congress is one good point. It is absolutely needed that
everybody send their e-mail and website address to create links.
The newsletter has been updated : Nolda had the issues for 2002-2003 prepared, then Martinique

(D. Taffin) took over for 2004, with the help of an editorial committee. Last issue was bilingual
(French/English), and so is it going to be. Next issue will deal with the Congress, and is expected
for the end of October. D. Taffin insists on the importance of the input of each member.

Networking through e-mail exchanges is a good means : an example is the «cotton gloves
group »

-ICCROM – PATC, TRAININGThe PATC conference in Curaçao, in Nov. 2003, was a success, but also a pilot one, to test the possibility of cooperation between ICCROM and a regional branch of ICA. Now it is time for new proposals to continue. There might be a possibility in Trinidad. Roger Craig suggests to rely also on resource persons within the region. It brings the issue of the list of resource persons and institutions for training Sharon Alexander-Gooding is in charge with.
There might be another possibility with next ACURIL conference in Martini¬que in 2005 to organize a training course.
-Activities in progress
Resource lists for the use of all members should be soon made available by the project chiefs :
Sharon Alexander-Gooding : list of training resources Dominique Taffin and Victoria Borg : list of suppliers of materials for archives and libraries Charles Gibson : archival laws in the Caribbean
-Festival in CubaOsvaldo Bebelagua is pleased to announce the conference on historic
archives that is to be held in Cuba in July 2005, at the occasion of the Festi¬val of the Caribbean.
-Records management and electronic records management in the Carib¬bean
Elizabeth Williams announces a course on Records management to be held in Jamaica. Members exchange about the issue of RM in their own country and expose the different ways they experienced collaboration with IT persons and government officials (example of Cayman islands, part of ARMA in Jamaica…). Sharon Alexander-Gooding is organizing a training in Barbados for CARBICA on the RM standard (ISO 15489) with a special inte¬rest in electronic records, which will be updated by 2005.

3) The issue of Carbica archives
This issue is linked to that of the registration of Carbica in one or several countries of the Caribbean. The question had been raised at the EC meeting in Martinique, 2002. Martinique has already collected information on the advantages and disadvantages of registration in the French West Indies. D. Taffin will report on that for October 2005. Other suggestions have to be made to the EC, so that a decision can be made for CARBICA VIII.

4) The organization of next CITRA in Curaçao
It is now certain that CITRA will be held in Curaçao in Nov. 2006.
The wish of ICA is to organize, as in Cape Town, a (Prime) ministers confer¬ence to sensitize them to the problem of archives in the Caribbean. The General assembly agrees to the proposal of organizing at the same time
CARBICA VIII. The theme has to be defined, but the proposal is to follow with CITRA theme « sharing one’s memory through globalization », as CAR¬BICA, with the Vienna workshop on Shared memory, has already begun.
It is also agreed that Nolda Römer-Kenepa will continue to assume the presi¬dence of CARBICA until that meeting.

5) Advice on the new ICA constitution
Members are invited to give their advice on the new constitution of ICA, that will be voted in Vienna. Afterwards, it will be necessary to amend CAR¬BICA constitution. Charles Gibson will submit to the EC a new draft for March 2005
 

Shared Memory workshop
 
The Shared Memory workshop we mentioned in our last issue took place in a more intimate atmosphere than we imagined : Erwin Gibbes, Victoria Borg O’Flaherty, Elizabeth Williams, Margot Thomas, Dominique Taffin pre¬sented the various ways this comprehensive subject can be tackled : exam¬ples or projects of cooperation to share the documentary ressources or to study the common components of our caribbean cultural heritage.
Although we did not have enough time to discuss about the different pro¬posals, the session organized by CARBICA was certainly directly connected to the Vienna Congress workshops which presented other experiences and international network projects for knowledge and access of archives sour¬ces : AER of the Spanish speaking archives and TANAP for the countries that have been formerly colonized by the Netherlands. It is to be hoped that CARBICA keep on with contributing, thanks to its initiatives, to the « memory of the world ».


CARBICA website

CARBICA website was opened, as it was announced, for Vienna Congress in August 2004. It provides with all general information on our branch and on its program of activities for several years. For it to be more useful to you, aIl Carbica members are invited to cooperate :
-giving their own websites addresses
.-communicating on archival activity in their country (training courses, conferences, work on progress concerning archives management and gathe¬ring of archives…)
.-communicating on bilateral or multilateral actions they are participating in above all in other organizations (IFLA, UNESCO, ARMA, ACURIL…).
The site webmaster is carbica@apadasiny.com

 
Slave Trade Archives on Agenda of UNESCO Meeting in Cuba

Archivists from 11 countries have met in Cuba to discuss new perspectives for the consolidation and extension of UNESCO’s Slave Trade Archives Pro¬ject, an initiative to safeguard the documents related to slave trade and sla¬very within the framework UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme.
The meeting, that was jointly organized by UNESCO and the National Archives of Cuba from 22 to 24 November 2004 in La Havana, aimed to harmonize the strategies of each country in order to create a synergy of the Slave Trade Archives Project. “We hope that we are able to improve natio¬nal participation in the projects and its geographical coverage” said project manager Abdelaziz Abid. A comprehensive project evaluation study was to be conducted in parallel with the meeting.
The meeting gathered representatives from the national archives of the par¬ticipating countries. Participants have each presented a progress report of their respective national slave trade archives programmes. The countries include Benin, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana and Senegal in Africa, as well as Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and Haiti in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Marking 2004 as the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition this meeting has provided an opportunity to renew the Organization’s commitment to make universally known the transatlantic slave trade and slavery, its causes and dramatic results, by means of scientific work.
www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/fr/index_mdm.html Contacter Abdelaziz Abid, Service des renseignements de l’UNESCO
Source UNESCO
 

President of CARBICA as chair of the Program Commission for Education and Training OF ICA

As you may already know, ICA was working on the modification of its constitution and program. The program has been modified in order to harmonize between the projects and to achieve more effective results. ICA will be focusing on 4 priority areas that are
1. 1. Advocacy
2. 2. Electronic Records Management
3. 3. Preservation

4. Education and Professional Training.For each of this 4 areas a chair has been appointed. The chair of CARBICA 2001-2005 is in charge with the project concerning the last mentioned area. All CARBICA members are invited to consult the ICA website for more information about the programs. All members are also invited to send
in projects according to this new development before the 1st of December this year to be included in the program for 2004-2006.

International mobilization for audiovisual Archives

In our last issue, we reported on the CAVIC conference on the audio¬visual archives, held in Jamaica. After another conference held in July in Barbados on the « vinegar syndrome », we are publishing here an extract from the recommendations that were recently taken in Paris by FIAT, called « appeal from Paris » in October 2004.
« On the occasion of the forthcoming FIAT/IFTA annual conference in Paris, I invite all FIAT members, media professionals and academics, all archivists and audiovisual archive users to read the «Appeal from Paris», to add their signature to the petition, and to circulate it to their professional network.
This call is intended : to mobilize all professionals involved in the preserva¬tion of our sound and audiovisual heritage ; to draw to the attention of the re¬levant national and international authorities the critically endangered state of the world’s audiovisual heritage, and the urgent essential preservation steps that must be taken to ensure survival ». Emmanuel Hoog, president of Fiat
. • « It is universally acknowledged that, along with cinema, radio and television now have a central place in the modern history of our society and that archives are an essential part of the collective memory of the 20th century ; (...)
. • This heritage is endangered by the fragility of the media and the obsolescence of equipment required to read the recordings ; entire collec¬tions of programmes on film, magnetic tape and disc are at risk of being lost for ever ; (...)
• Furthermore there are now technical solutions to guarantee the long-term preservation, access, and reuse of archival records, by the transfer to a digital format. This migration to digital requires the urgent application of appropriate human and financial resources.
Continuing the action led by UNESCO1 and the Council of Europe2, the International Federation of Television Archives (FIAT/IFTA), in association with sister organizations IASA, ICA, IFLA, FIAF and SEAPAVAA3, on the occasion of its 27th annual conference, appeals for the attention and vigi¬lance of all to :
. • Alert, mobilize and urge the authorities concerned to understand the seriousness and urgency of the impending threats to the audiovisual heri¬tage of the nations of the world ;
. • Implement preservation policies and migration plans for these archives ;
. • Define the priority criteria by which preservation action must be taken ;
. • Develop cooperation among states to facilitate the implementa¬tion of joint solutions for safeguarding and digitization ;

1 Recommendation for the Safeguarding and Preservation of Moving Images, 1980 ; Memory of the World Programme, initiated in 1992 2 European Convention for the Protection of Audiovisual Heritage adopted in Stras¬bourg on 9 November 2001 3 IASA - International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives; ICA - Interna¬tional Council on Archives; IFLA - International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions; FIAF -International Federation of Film Archives; SEAPAVAA -Southeast Asia Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association
 

«The archives of the West Indies in the hurricane eye»
 
Bahamas (hurricane Ivan – septembre 2004) : The archives suffered no major damages from the natural disaster as the staff implemented their disaster preparedness plan and therefore secured the buildings and their contents from the hurricane. All of the islands suffered damages with some of them more extensive than others. The Bahamas recei¬ved international assistance that is going a long way to help the government in its reconstructon efforts.
Grenada (hurricane Ivan – September 2003) : The Public library is intact. On the other hand, other libraries were damaged (loss of roof, collection destroyed). The library in St. David’s is now serving as a shelter. A statement for governmental archives is in progress.
Guadeloupe (earthquake – November 2004) The Saintes Islands and the south of Basse-Terre have been particularly affec¬ted. The French government awarded a financial aid of 200 000 €. If the public Archives withstood the earthquake this time, maybe it will not be the same would there be a stronger one. As for the districts archives, having poor management or no management at all, great losses could be deplored if such a catastrophe happened again.
Saint-Kitts (hurricane Ivan – septembre 2004) In St. Kitts the records and archives are safe but the museum and the St. Christopher Heritage Society lost some valuable equipment.


ACURIL 2004 in Trinidad

Recent events pertaining to our Archives in Trinidad and Tobago was the ACURIL Conference that was held here in Trinidad from May 23 -29. The National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago was responsible for the Archives Special Interest Group.
Helena Léonce is the Chair of this Special Interest Group and Margot Tho¬mas of St. Lucia is her co-chair. The theme was ‘Archives as Memory’, for which Margot Thomas presented a paper dealing with this theme. The Con¬servator from the National Archives of Haiti also did a presentation about archival documents from as early as the 16th Century .
On the 27th May a group of over sixty participants from thirteen different countries then visited our Archives. Our Archives presented an exhibition of our documents, artifacts and showed practical demonstrations in our Con¬servation Laboratory.
The session presented by both Helena and Margot about Archives and Archi¬val procedures and the differences between Archives and Libraries was well received by the forty persons who attended.

A new home for Archives of the West Indies Federation

The Archives of the Federation of the West Indies have a new home. They have been re-located to the Cavehill Campus of the University of the West Indies.
The Archives, which were created between 1958 and 1962,document the attempt at a Federal Government for the English speaking territories of the re¬gion. Following its ultimate demise, it was decided that the archives should be held by the University of the West Indies. However the federal concept had not been totally abandoned and the Leewards, the Windwards and Bar¬bados continued, for a few years, to work on a Little Eight Federation. As the archives were still of value to this smaller federation, they were placed in the care of the Department of Archives of Barbados.
Earlier this year, an advisory committee under that chairmanship of Professor Peter Marshall, and with representation from CARICOM, UWI, the Barbados Archives and National Library and CARBICA was set up to oversee the pro¬ject, and advice on access and other related matters.
The new repository at Cavehill was financed by the University of the West Indies and the Barbados Government. It was officially opened by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mr. Owen Arthur on the 25th October 2004. This repository is headed by CARBICA’s Vice-President, Sharon Alexander-Goo-ding with Mrs. Cherri Ann Beckles (formerly at Barbados Department of Ar¬chives) as Assistant Archivist.

Colloque « From Saint-Domingue to Italy : Moreau de Saint-Méry or the ambiguities of a Creole from the Age of enlightenment » organized by the Archives of Martinique, sept. 11th and 12th 2004

For the bicentenary of the Haitian independance, the conference threw light on the development and then the crisis of the colonial society of Haiti. At this very period an exhibition was shown at the Archives of Martinique on the same theme. Although Moreau de Saint-Méry was a defender of conser¬vatism during the decisive years of 1789-1792, his works are major source of knowledge for historians. This conference was a critical contribution to the history of the representations of the New World.
The papers were presented by famous speakers from Martinique, Guadelou¬pe, France, the United States or Haiti : Gérard Barthélémy, Danielle Bégot, Bernard Camier, Jean-Michel Deveau, Marcel Dorigny, Léo Elisabeth, John Garrigus, David Geggus, Vincent Huyghes-Belrose, Stewart King, Gérard Marion, James Mc Clellan, Monique Pouliquen, Dominique Rogers, Vertus Saint-Louis.
The proceedings of this colloque will be published during the first half of the year 2005.
Contact : archives@cg972.fr

International Council of Archives, International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families – ISAAR (CPF), 2004
ISAAR (CPF) provides a standardised means of describing the corporate bodies, persons and families that create archives. The creation of separate but linked descriptions of the creators of archives in descriptive systems pro¬vides an efficient and dynamic means of capturing and managing the con¬textual information that is vital to the discovery, use and understanding of ar¬chives. Archivists who are familiar with the 1996 1st edition of ISAAR (CPF) will notice that the 2nd edition is greatly modified, featuring a new more logical structure, numerous examples and increased consistency with related international standards such as the IFLA standard for authority records, ISAD

(G) and the recently released Encoded Archival Context (EAC) standard for machine readable interchange of ISAAR-compliant data.
Archives of the Republic of Slovenia, Proceedings of the International Symposium of Ljubljana, 2004, ISBN 961-6137-76 X
The international symposium entitled “Exhibiting Archival and Library Material and Works of Art on Paper: Standards in Preservation” was held in Ljubljana on 5th and 6th June 2003, in cooperation with the ICA Committee on Preservation in Temperate Climates (ICA/CPTE). The Proceedings are an attempt to bundle current guidelines to aid in the preservation of documents and artworks during exhibition.
Contact: Jedert.Vodopivec@gov.si http://www.gov.si/ars For more information: www.ica.org/cpte
The Records of NGOs, Memory... To Be Shared. A Practical Guide in 60 Questions online
This guide has two main objectives: 1) Raising awareness among lea¬dership, staff and volunteers of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with regard to the value of their records and archives, and 2) Providing prac¬tical advice on how these records should be managed and preserved. The guide is not written for professional archivists and records managers and some may find that the advice given here is rather basic.
Armelle Le Goff, senior curator at the Historical Centre of the French Na¬tional Archives, is the author of this guide, which is an initiative of the ICA Section of International Organizations.
The Spanish and Russian versions will soon be published, thanks to the sup¬port of the Archivo General de Colombia and the Open Society Archives in Budapest.

 

Cuba activities

 

Please contact:
Nolda Römer Kenepa
Director
National Archives of the
Netherlands Antilles (NANA)
Scharlooweg 77—79,
Curaçao N.A.
Tel: (599-9)-461-4866
Fax: (599-9)-461-6794
E-mail: nrom@cura.net

Editor:
bonjean@cg972.fr

Webmaster:
apadasiny.com
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