Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

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Eric Williams collection
Inscribed 1999
What is it
The collection documents the life and times of Dr
Eric Williams, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago,
international statesman and scholar, and his contribution
to Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean region and the
world during the period 1956–81.
Why was it inscribed
The collection, of worldwide significance, depicts various
aspects of Dr Williams’ life as a politician and scholar.
His seminal work, Capitalism and Slavery, has made an
indelible contribution to the historiography of slavery
and has defined the study of Caribbean history.
Where is it
University of the West Indies at St Augustine and
National Archives, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Eric Williams was born in Port of Spain in 1911 and won
a scholarship to study at Oxford University in 1932.
Graduating in 1935, he continued at Oxford as a graduate
student, completing his DPhil, The Economic Aspects of the
Abolition of the Slave Trade and West Indian Slavery, in
1938. The following year he moved to the USA to lecture
at Howard University. His book, Capitalism and Slavery,
which cemented his academic reputation and challenged
many preconceptions about slavery, was published in 1944.
It still continues to be the subject of much debate. He
also wrote a number of other books on Caribbean history.
He returned to Trinidad in 1948, and his political career
began when he founded the People’s National Movement
(PNM) in 1956 and campaigned for independence not just
from British colonialism, but also from the USA which
maintained military bases in Trinidad at that time. He
won the election in 1956 and became Chief Minister, and
in 1958 he led Trinidad and Tobago from colonialism into
a short-lived West Indies Federation. As the Federation
floundered, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica became the
first British West Indian colonies to become independent
in August 1962. Trinidad and Tobago’s achievement, guided
by Dr Williams, is therefore an excellent case-study of the
decolonization movement of the 1950s and 1960s and
of the success of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society’s
514 Eric Williams collection
� Dr Eric Williams, scholar and Prime
Minster of Trinidad and Tobago,
who brought his country out of
colonialism and led it for twenty-five
years, dying in office in 1981.
The Red House Parliament Building
in Port of Spain, the heart of the
government of Trinidad and Tobago. �
entrance into the world family of nations. In 1976 Trinidad
and Tobago became a republic, breaking its remaining
constitutional links with Britain. Eric Williams died in
office in 1981, having led his country for twenty-five years.
As an international statesman, Dr Williams was one
of the founding members of the Governing Council
of the United Nations University and was once courted
as a possible successor to U Thant as Secretary-General
of the United Nations. He was asked to assist in solving
racial difficulties in British Guiana (now Guyana) and
mediated the Venezuela, Guyana and Belize border
disputes. He was one of only four prime ministers
selected to visit Vietnam in the hope of solving that
country’s long and bitter conflict. He was the recipient
of honorary degrees from a number of universities and
of national awards from Liberia, Brazil, Venezuela and
the United Kingdom.
The papers and documents represent an important
and unique set of primary source material of relevance
to the study of history, politics and the social and
economic conditions of Trinidad and Tobago and
the Caribbean region, as well as the life and times
of Dr Williams himself. The collection includes his
personal library of approximately 7000 books and
journals, which has particular strengths in Caribbean,
African and African-American history. His personal
papers include correspondence from heads of state
and academics as well as manuscripts and research
notes related to his academic work plus much material
relating to the founding of the PNM, his speeches and
other political documents. That part of the collection
which is held in the National Archives includes his
official papers covering his time as premier as well
as 1200 photographs and many audiotapes. The
collection at the University of the West Indies continues
to be added to and has an active oral history project,