The Saint Vincent and the Grenadines National Archives (SVGNA), established in 1990, is part of the our islands heritage protection under the Department of Libraries, Archives and Documentation Services. The Saint Vincent and the Grenadines National Archives (SVGNA) was established in 1990 as part of the our islands Department of Libraries, Archives and Documentation Services and part of St Vincen
t's developing national heritage (with the Library, Museum, and Trust). As one of our nations custodian of heritage we care for holdings of approximately 250,000 volumes of books, pamphlets, periodicals, theses, manuscripts, maps and non-print material. They help people, communities and nations make sense of the present and discover a shared sense of their past. They are evidence of events and decisions, of past lives, ideas and communications, and of people’s own identities. Primary archival research is important not only to the historical, social and economic study with which it is most closely associated, but also to scholarship as diverse as climatology, ethnography and linguistics. Archives can provide context in a world that constantly changes, and ground us in the sometimes surprising continuity of our lives. Caring for, maintain, and developing our archival sector is an ongoing priority for our nation which involves developing bigger and better services through partnerships – working towards increased sustainability within the heritage sector to protect this rich resource, to create a responsive, skilled workforce, to co-ordinated a response to the growing challenge of managing digital information so that it is accessible now and remains discoverable in the future, work towards a comprehensive online access for archive discovery through catalogues and to digitised archive content, and maintain active participation in cultural and learning partnerships promoting a sense of identity and place within the community.
