Welcome

Welcome to the website of the W.I. Federal Archives Centre. We, at the Centre, hope that this multimedia interface would serve to offer some insight into the motivations, hopes and aspirations of West Indian peoples as well as the events that took place in the period of the West Indies Federation. We also aim to unlock and reveal some of valuable lessons buried within the Federal Archives that could empower today’s policy-makers and CARICOM citizens to build a sound foundation in the renewed thrust for regional integration. We are seeking to achieve these objectives by facilitating on-line access to the Federal Archives and other records of regional bodies within our care. In so doing, we hope to strengthen our relationship with our existing users and pique the interest of future researchers.

News & Events

The Federal Archives fonds was nominated in 2008 for inscription in the International Register of the UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) by the Memory of the World (MoW) Committee of the Barbados National Commission for UNESCO. The MoW International Register lists documentary heritage of outstanding world significance. The selection of the world's best fonds/collections is carry out by the UNESCO International Advisory Committee. The final decision on the Federal Archives fonds and other nominees will take place in Barbados in July 2009.  


The Offices of the W.I. Federal Archives Centre/Cave Hill Campus Archives have been temporarily re-located to the CARICOM Building in CARICOM Park. The Alistair McIntyre building formerly known as the Centre for Multi-Racial Studies in which the Archives is housed is currently undergoing renovations.  


The month of May is Archives Awareness Month in Barbados. In celebration, the W.I. Federal Archives Centre/Cave Hill Campus Archives in collaboration with the Barbados Department of Archives will be hosting a number of events commencing on Monday, May 3 at 9:00 a.m. with a Church Service at the St. Michael's Cathedral. On May 11 at 10.00 a.m. a month long exhibition entitled, “We Island Story” will be launched at the Barbados Archives Department, Lazaretto.

Other events are as follows:

  Heritage Fairs, Archives Exhibition 
  May 9 - Sturges, St. Thomas
  May 16 - Foursquare, St Philip
  May 23 - Barbados Museum, St. Michael
  May 30 - Farley Hill, St. Peter

On May 21, there will be Public Lecture delivered by Dr. Pedro Welch, entitled “Celebrating Our Nation’s Records” at 7:00 p.m. at the 3W’s Pavilion, The UWI Cave Hill Campus