40,000 images of T&T’s history at National Library

Executive director of the National Library Lucia Phillip said material on T&T’s history was significant to the National Heritage Library and to national libraries throughout the world. “It focuses on preserving significant elements of our culture and history to ensure they remain for posterity and are accessible for generations to come,” Phillip said.

She was speaking on Wednesday at the opening session of the 13th meeting of the Memory of the World Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean (MOWLAC) Regional Committee at NALIS, Port-of-Spain. In attendance were president of the (MOWLAC) Vitor Manoel Marques da Fonseca and Minister of Education Dr Tim Gopeesingh.

Phillip said the NALIS digital library provided access to 40,000 images representing several collections over the years. “We are encouraging persons who own collections to take a critical look at the contents with a view to submitting them for consideration for inscription on the national register,” she added.

Marques da Fonseca said the documentation of people’s heritage was important and was the basis of cultural identity. He said the documentation was deeply connected to the national perspective. “It is one of the basis of the feeling of belonging to a nation with a specific cultural identity,” he added.

Marques da Fonseca said historic material was part of mankind’s heritage and the Memory of the World Programme was not limited to the nomination of documents and collections. “It seeks to preserve and make them accessible to all, by every possible way—books, exhibitions, Web sites, etc,” he said.

Gopeesingh, who is also president of the National Commission for Unesco, said T&T had the largest register in MOWLAC and it was important to remember the country’s history. He said human beings were innovative and history must be fully preserved and protected. “If we don’t know where we come from we can’t progress and it is worth fighting for,” he added.