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January 2013 |
Sam Selvon Collection on Memory of the World Register
The Sam Selvon Collection spans the period 1948-1985 and consists of manuscripts of Selvon's published works: poems, plays, short stories, articles and non-fiction. It also contains correspondence and manuscripts of many unpublished items. The collection is significant to the region as it provides documentary evidence of the work of an important writer who contributed to the development of Caribbean literature. In the renowned trilogy Lonely Londoners, Moses Ascending, and Moses Migrating, Selvon captures class struggles; and the sociological and psychological experiences of the West Indian immigrant in Britain in the 1950s. UNESCO established the Memory of the World (MOW) Programme 20 years ago, following a growing awareness of the inadequate preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage (books, manuscripts, drawings, maps, films, etc.) in various parts of the world. The MOW Programme recognizes and maintains registers of documentary heritage of international, regional and national significance. Trinidad and Tobago has the second largest number of collections on the international register from the Latin American and Caribbean regions, a total of six: the Derek Walcott Collection, the Eric Williams Memorial Collection, the CLR James Collection, the Registry of Slaves of the British Caribbean (1817-1834), the Constantine Collection, and the Records of the Indian Indentured Labourers of Trinidad and Tobago (1845-1917). These collections are housed at the National Library, the National Archives and at The UWI, St. Augustine. |
The Memory of the World Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean (MOWLAC) has inscribed the Sam Selvon Collection, housed at The Alma Jordan Library of The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, on the regional Memory of the World register. The nomination was accepted during the Regional Meeting of MOWLAC, hosted by Trinidad and Tobago in October 2012, where the main item on the agenda was the assessment of 13 nominations of regional documentary heritage collections for possible inscription on the Regional Memory of the World Register.