PEOPLE
Another piece that I really love was a file that dealt with the judiciary; and in that file, there is an agreement where whenever there was a backlog of cases in one of the federate countries, the agreement was that they would hire temporary judges to lessen that backlog. I looked at it and wondered why we are having problems with backlog now. We are not learning from the past. The whole process was outlined in the file; and I called up the CARICOM Secretariat and told them that we had a file that said so and so, and they all should see that it goes to heads of government. I am not sure that anything happened, but at least I drew it to their attention. Two others: We have the archives of Sir Shridath Ramphal . He was one of the people who drafted the Constitution of The Federation. We also have the archives of Sir George Alleyne . A number of years ago, we checked for all of the living main characters of The Federation or people who were associated with them. I took a team, and we went to Jamaica and interviewed Sir Howard Cooke because he played a role in The Federation. We got a number of very important people who were able to add further background, and of course, we had them sign the necessary documents for copyright purposes and so on. For example, we interviewed Sir Ellis Clarke who was the first President of Trinidad and was the advisor to Dr. Eric Williams during the federal period.
Sharon Alexander Gooding The UWI’s Archivist, 1996-2019
Former UWI Archivist, Sharon Alexander-Gooding with Vice-Chancellor of The UWI, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles
What other countries have you helped with their archives?
As a writer, what tips do you have for me and for other writers about keeping our own personal records? D ocuments like your manuscripts, birth certificates, academic certificates, marriage certificates, mortgages, your deeds – those are archival documents. You can have them replicated. You have to go through a lot of trouble to get those things back if you lose them. We teach people how to put these things in safe places, including the type of housing they should have. We use boxes that are lignin-free and acid-free. That is part of traditional storage. I would also encourage you to document what you have, list electronically, label, scan and digitally store what you have so it is easy to get to it. In some cases, we put hard copies and photographs in flexi folders so that if there is water ingress, they would not be damaged too quickly. Some people are not aware of those simple little things, and so, the purpose of workshops that we host is to educate the community at large.
I have worked with CARICOM and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Guyana. I have worked in The Bahamas, in St. Lucia with different organisations, in Antigua, and of course, in Trinidad and Tobago. Tell us about awards you have received and about your plans now that you are at pre-retirement. I received the Principal’s Award for Excellence at Cave Hill, various bursaries and awards for training, awards from ARMA International , Society of American Archivists , and a nomination for the most prestigious award in global archives - the Emmett Leahy Award . I was also appointed to a number of positions in the International Council of Archives , representing the Caribbean. The Fund for the International Development of Archives (FIDA) asked me to be a trustee, and I have been there for the last four years. Through them, I have secured funding for various training programmes in the Caribbean. Regarding retirement plans: a relaxing period, some work (not too much as an archival consultant/records manager) and some writing, as I always wanted to write some Caribbean novels.
Thank you for the opportunity to briefly discuss my life’s passion. l
CHILL NEWS 105
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