Eric Williams Memorial Collection celebrates 5th Anniversary

March 22, 2003 ushered in the 5th anniversary of the inauguration of the Eric Williams Memorial Collection (EWMC), by current US Secretary of State, Colin L Powell, at the Main Library, The University of the West Indies St Augustine campus. In 1999, the Collection was named to UNESCO’s prestigious Memory of the World Register.

The Collection consists of the library and papers of the late Dr Eric Eustace Williams, renowned scholar and first Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, whose sudden death on March 29, 1981, after 25 years in office, marked the end of an important era in TT affairs. Dr Williams was heralded by Gen Powell as a tireless warrior in the battle against colonialism, among his many other achievements as a scholar, politician and international statesman.

Available for consultation by researchers — several articles and at least one book have been published drawing on EWMC research — the Collection amply reflects its former owner’s eclectic interests, comprising some 7,000 volumes, as well as correspondence, speeches, manuscripts, historical writings, research notes, conference documents and a miscellany of reports. A Museum — containing a wealth of emotive memorabilia of the period; copies of the seven translations of Williams’ seminal work, Capitalism and Slavery (Russian and Japanese among them); as well as photographs depicting various aspects of his life and contribution to the development of Trinidad and Tobago — completes this rich archive, as does a three-dimensional re-creation of Dr Williams’ study.

Dr Colin Palmer, Dodge Professor of History, Princeton University, who, like several other scholars both local and international, has conducted considerable research from the Collection, states that “as a model for similar archival collections in the Caribbean ... I remain very impressed by its breadth ... (it) is a national treasure.” The EWMC is actively involved in the academic and Caribbean communities through Florida International University’s annual Eric Williams Memorial Lecture in Miami. Also in its fifth year, the Lecture has presented: John Hope Franklin, America’s premier black historian, 1999; former President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda — 2000; Hilary Beckles, Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor of The University of The West Indies, 2001; and a round-table session entitled, Women, Politics and the Caribbean, with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Cynthia Pratt, the Attorney General of Barbados, Mia Mottley and the former First Lady of Jamaica, Beverley Anderson-Manley, 2002.

Another successful endeavour was the 2002 Eric Williams Conference (the fourth) at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Studies. Some 1,000 attendees over a two-day period were treated to scholarly analyses by presenters from several of the best-known universities/colleges in the US and the Caribbean. Dr Jiang Shixue of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, China, offered a paper on Eric Williams from the Chinese perspective (four of Dr Williams’ books have been translated into Chinese), There were also observers from Japan and France. With its annual newsletter, Oral History Project, compilation of over 150 calypsos with trenchant social commentary about Williams’ policies and persona, along with many other endeavours, the EWMC is a model for the Caribbean, a means of showing to its younger generation the vital connection to the past — what that means for both the present and for the future.

To date, some 57 high schools in Trinidad and Tobago have visited the EWMC Museum on field trips — along with three from St Lucia, Guadeloupe and the US Virgin Islands. And the young continue to demonstrate their comprehension as they speak, of what the Collection means to the general population at large and, what it will mean to future sons and daughters of Trinidad and Tobago, in particular, and of the Caribbean in general.
Here are some comments of young visitors:
* “Keep this signature. I have been inspired to accomplish even greater heights for TT and the Caribbean”. Keisha Lewis, first year UWI student, 2000.
* “I vow to defend your promise and to honour our people”. Leslie Paul, Trinidad and Tobago student, 2001.
* “Thank you for treasuring what is truly ours”. Kimberley Corriea, Trinidad and Tobago student, 2002.
If, as Frantz Fanon has said, “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it ...,” these three young ladies are well on the way to completing the job admirably. In its continuing effort to engage the attention of the future of our nation, and to mark the 5th anniversary of the EWMC, the UWI Library will be hosting a seminar for 6th form students entitled ‘Preserving Our Cultural Heritage: The UWI Library and the Eric Williams Memorial Collection.