http://library.brooklyn.cuny.edu/records_survey
Caribbean People have been settling in New York City ever since 1899. Today, Brooklyn contains the greatest concentration of Caribbean people in the city. The Caribbean Collection, coordinated through the Archives and Special Collections unit in the Brooklyn College Library, is the first initiative aiming to preserve the rich heritage of this important community.
Our archival survey, which focused on the Jamaican and Trinidadian constituencies, is an inventory of all of the records that have been preserved by community organizations, collected, compiled, and made available to researchers and Internet browsers curious about the activities of Caribbean Americans in New York City. This project will insure that the legacy of the Caribbean American community will survive to benefit future generations.
In December 2003, our $165,000 grant from the New York State Documentary Heritage Program ended and our project was complete. In total, 21 organizations were surveyed and a 100-plus page report containing the completed surveys, background on the project, and a bibliography was created and made available to the public. Our survey instrument can be used as a model for other organizations seeking to document the records of public, private, and religious organizations. We could certainly go much further with this project, and Archivist Anthony Cucchiara has sought funds from Jamaican Airlines and Independence Savings; we continue to pursue other possibilities.