Documentation
and Data Centre
Special
Collections
The special collections
represent social science research material on the terminal phases of colonial
rule of the former British West Indian region from both official and private
sources, as well as contemporary research papers by outstanding Caribbean
scholars in the social sciences.
Colonial
Office Records
From the Public Record
Office in Britain, the following are the main sets of copies of documents
so far collected:
The
Creech-Jones Papers
Creech-Jones was
Secretary of State for the Colonies in the post-World War II Government
of Britain and was for many years a keen Fabian Socialist with a deep interest
in West Indian affairs. The original papers are located at Rhodes House
Library, Oxford.
The
Richard Hart Papers
Hart was a radical
political activist in the People's National Party of Jamaica, from which
he was expelled in 1952. He was also the first secretary of the Caribbean
Congress of Labour.
The
George Beckford Collection
Beckford was one
of the intellectuals in the modern era who grappled with the nature of
the Caribbean neo-colonial society and economy. His monumental work,
"Persistent poverty", examines the contours of the problems of the dependent
plantation economy, explaining the causes of poverty and disposition of
the black majority in Jamaica and the Caribbean. He was involved
in the ISER as a teacher, researcher and an active public political educator
for over 25 years.
The
Carl Stone Collection
Stone was a scholar
of international repute, teacher, prolific
writer and columnist whose analytical insights into a wide range of sociological,
economic and political issues forced the society to come to grips with
critical questions thus bringing a new dimension to public debate on national
issues. He was responsible for bringing Jamaica into the forefront
of modern public opinion ... practice by taking the pulse of the community
with his national polls for over two decades, now known as the Stone Polls.
He also made a major contribution to institutional building, public sector
reform and academic activism. The collection includes some
of his research papers (usually policy-oriented) and his personal
books.
The
Archie Singham Collection
Radical economist,
confidant of Michael Manley and Cheddi Jagan, he taught at the Faculty
of Social Sciences, UWI for 10 years, introduced Caribbean studies at Howard
University and Brooklyn College, wrote the definitive book on Grenada's
charismatic and authoritative system, "The hero and the crowd in
a colonial polity". The collection consists of his personal
books.
