THE KEEPER of the Records, Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe, has now received the first 10 years of Cabinet documents for independent Jamaica. Last Wednesday in a short ceremony at Jamaica House, the Government honoured a provision of the Access to Information Act to release to the public archives Cabinet documents after 30 years.
Over 150 files containing Cabinet submissions, agendas, notes and minutes between 1962 and 1972 plus documents of the Executive Council from 1949 to Independence were handed over. The Chief Justice, as official custodian, saw the occasion of first release as of great importance in the life of the nation facilitating greater access to information.
While there are remaining significant concerns about access to a range of current information generated by Government, the great importance of the historical archives must not be underestimated. The Prime Minister acknowledging the handing over to be a "very, very important occasion" and a great day of signal privilege for him personally, noted the potential usefulness of the documents as a source of scholarship.
Exactly a week before, the House of Representatives passed the Legal Deposit Act, 2002, which strengthens the legislative mechanism for the collection and preservation of material published in Jamaica in both print and electronic form as a vital part of the country's national heritage. The new law, which replaces the Books (Preservation and Registration of Copies) Act dating back to 1887, requires publishers to deposit copies of their output in the National Library of Jamaica or any other library designated as a legal depository, or face fines up to $50,000.
The Gleaner as the newspaper of record for 168 years fully appreciates the importance of keeping a record of published output. The National Library of Jamaica is a treasure house of information from books to maps, from concert programmes to posters of meetings, and, of course, newspapers. Our own current features, drawn from archival material, "Pieces of Our Past" and "This Day in Our Past" and the series which was done by columnist C. Roy Reynolds on history-making news are widely read and enjoyed.
The new Deposit Act has upped punitive provisions for non-compliance; but quite apart from avoiding penalties, we want to encourage all producers of documents in whatever form to take an interest in their preservation for posterity. Documents are the stuff of history and producers of documents have the privilege of making history.
