Lesser Antilles Collection has thousands of manuscripts, printed booksBy Monique Washington
The Nevis Historical and Conservation Society hasbegunits first roundof discussionsabout a proposed partnership and cooperation agreement between the society and the Daniel Burke Library of Hamilton College of New York.
According to the Hamilton College website, “The Daniel Burke Library has an outstanding collection of rare books and other special collections.” The collection is particularly strong in religion, classics, local history, the Adirondacks, and Civil War regimental histories (especially New York State). Of particular note are the Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection, the Ezra Pound Collection, and the Communal Societies Collection noted below. These are our premiere collections where the Library has distinctive and unique holdings.”
Christian Goodwillie, directorand curator of the Special Collection and Archives at the Hamilton College Library recently visited Neviswith St. Kitts and Nevis Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States(OAS) His Excellency Dr.Everson Hull to begindiscussions.
During his visit Goodwillie said the college has three major collections. It has 1,700 manuscripts and many thousands of printed books from the Lesser Antilles. Birth registers of the Stapleton family and the Jefferson Papers are in the collections.
“We have completed the digitization of all the manuscripts because there is a lot of international demand for that material,” Goodwillie said. “This will be available online at the end of the year.”
NHCS Executive Director Nicole Liburd spoke briefly with the Observer on Thursday and noted the importance of the proposed partnership.
“Thisproject has great potential for Nevis,” Liburd said. “First we will be able to preserve our documents; there would not be as much handling of thesefragile documents. Plus more people will have asses to the documents. So if someone is in college somewhere else and they need to view adocument, instead of sending a family member to the museum, making a copy and having that copy sent to them,they will be able to go online, maybe pay a fee and view the document themselves.”
In May, NHCS received a new document scanner as a donation by Nevisian Ambassador Dr. Everson.
Liburd said Goodwillie was informed about NIHS historical documents and equipment being used to digitize the documents. She said when Goodwille visited the facility he showed the staff additional features available on their new scanner.
During the presentation of the scanner in last month,Hull explained he saw the scanner at work during his trip to Hamilton College and noted how important it could be in archiving and preserving Nevis historical documents.
“It is very important in terms of archiving and preserving our very rich history,” Hull explained. “This is especially true with Alexander Hamilton. Americans are becoming very interested in Alexander Hamilton’s history. The scanner will be great to digitalize manuscripts.”
Executive Director Liburd noted she was impressed by the work former NHCS Executive Director Evelyn Henvil and her staff put in to digitalize the documents.
“We hope we can begin this partnership in the near future,” Liburd concluded.
