Former Prime Minister of Barbados, The Right Honourable Owen Seymour Arthur, has donated papers collated during his 14-year tenure in office to The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill.

Principal and Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Eudine Barriteau confirmed on Tuesday evening that she received the Deed of Gift, and thanked Arthur for the contribution. The Principal made the revelation as she gave welcome remarks at a public lecture delivered by Arthur titled, The IMF and the Caribbean: New Directions for a New Relationship. It was held in Lecture Theatre 1 of the Roy Marshall Teaching Complex.

Arthur’s documents will be housed at the campus as part of its Special Collections. Barriteau explained that the Special Collections is a “valuable treasure trove of documents” which the Cave Hill Campus has been steadily working on increasing.

“In January 2018, we obtained the Peoples’ Revolutionary Government of Grenada Documents and Microfiche Guide. These documents attract regional and international researchers and are of course available to local students and scholars,” Barriteau said.

The Special Collections also includes the papers of Dame Nita Barrow, Dame Eugenia Charles, Professor George Lamming, Professor Keith Patchett, the first UWI Dean of Law and a lead advisor in Barbados’ Independence negotiations, Richard B Moore, an African-Caribbean Civil Rights activist, as well as the archives of The West Indies Federation.

“These documents attract regional and international researchers and are of course available to local students and scholars. They enhance the reputation of the Campus and the country as a place for serious scholarly research in a wide range of disciplines,” she said.

Barriteau added that The UWI Cave Hill stood ready to receive donations of papers from other Prime Ministers from Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.

“I am calling on the estates of past prime ministers to make their papers available to become a permanent part of this collection. And . . . I look forward to the Campus receiving the papers of the first female Prime Minister of Barbados, and I have already indicated this to the honourable Mia Amor Mottley.”

Arthur is a Fellow in Residence at The UWI Cave Hill. This position aligns with established university-wide policy to provide offices and facilities to former prime ministers, if they desire.

View the lecture in its entirety here.