Crime
Barbados Archives Department Suffers Devastating Fire, Minister Vows Recovery Efforts
A devastating fire at Barbados' archives destroyed historical records, including vestry and city council documents, colonial general records, and mental asylum records. Efforts to salvage remaining materials are underway.
5 min read
Originally published by barbadostoday.bb (opens in new tab)
In what may be the greatest single loss of Barbadian historical records in living memory, a devastating fire swept through a block of the colonial-era building housing the nation’s archives, prompting a tearful outburst from the minister responsible for preserving the documents, and a vow to recover any salvageable materials.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for culture Senator Dr Shantal Munro-Knight said the government would accelerate its eight-year-long digitisation of critical records to prevent future losses. But initial investigations suggest that promise has come too late for records of the vestry system, the country’s earliest form of local government, and the Bridgetown city council which was abolished in 1969.
Also gone are records of the colonial general which dates back to 1844 and the mental asylum which opened in 1893 – precursors to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Psychiatric Hospital.
The blaze, believed to have been sparked by a lightning strike in the early hours of Tuesday morning, ravaged Block D, a two-storey building housing the archives department’s repository in Black Rock, St Michael.
“It’s an emotional morning,” a visibly moved Senator Munro-Knight told reporters. “We were able to retrieve some records, and the team is already on site trying to salvage those records. But this is still a major blow for us.”
Ingrid Thompson, chief archivist, said the “majority of the records were destroyed” in the fire.
“Some of these records included vestry records, city council records, and records of the mental hospital and general hospital. The impact is significant because, in most cases, these documents are irreplaceable,” she said.
Thompson, who has worked at the archives for 38 years, revealed that the archives department had been in the process of procuring a fire suppression system to better protect the fragile records before the disaster struck.
“We were procuring a fire suppression system to protect the records – although the fire officer informed us that due to the lightning strike, it actually tore away the galvanised sheets from the building,” she said. “So the fire suppression system would not really have worked as it needed to be contained; the gas needed to be contained within the building.”
Despite the devastation, the chief archivist said staff would continue working from other areas of the archives facility while recovery efforts are underway in the burnt-out block.
