guyana’s archives

TOMMY PAYNEFormer/Retired Archivist, NationalArchives of Guyana“Archival Sources in Guyana and theirSignificance”February 28, 2014Moray House, Georgetown, Guyana

Reviewed by Stephanie McKenzie

“My task is to tell youabout the value andimportance ofhistorical archives in

Guyana,” Hugh ‘Tommy’ Payne beganhis lecture “Archival Sources inGuyana and Their Significance.”

Tommy Payne is the retired archivist ofGuyana’s National Archives. Born and raisedin Buxton, Guyana, Payne attended BuxtonCongretional School and pursued hissecondary education at Queen’s College(1951-61). In 1961-62, Payne taught atTagore High School, No 63 Village,Corentyne, Berbice, and, then, attended theUniversity of the West Indies, Mona,Jamaica, 1962-65, taking a degree in History(Hons). In November 1965, he joined theNational Archives of Guyana and served asinspecting officer from Nov 1965 to May1970 and, then, as archivist from June 1970-May 1988. Payne worked as a consultant forthe Archives (History) from June 1988 toSept 1993 and the Caribbean DevelopmentBank from Nov 1994 to Aug 2007. He wasvice-president of the Caribbean ArchivesAssociation (CARBICA) from 1979 to 1992and president from 1982 to 1985.

Although Payne’s lecture seemed gearedfor an audience “in-the-know,” with manyfirst-name references and references to

Guyanese politics which only people withlocal knowledge or experts might hold,Payne’s talk was informative andprovocative. He seemed to be making fourmain points to those gathered at MorayHouse, a place governed by the mission’sTrust: “a private, non-partisan, not-for-profit,cultural initiative to foster national pride inGuyana’s diverse heritage, to enable allforms of artistic expression, to promoteconservation, civil liberties and sport in[Guyanese] society, and to stimulate thesharing of knowledge and ideas within avibrant public sphere” (programme notes).

Speaking of his initiatives as nationalarchivist, Payne noted he took the positionwhen the general understanding was thatdocuments which had been sent abroad(often to the United Kingdom) were mostimportant. Payne contended that localknowledge/archives are equally rich andthat they offer different perspectives:people tend to send documents away thatkeep foreign offices happy and quiet, Paynesuggested. He had long hoped localdocuments could help create a different andsystematic catalogue that didn’t spelltypical reliance on foreign holdings.

Payne’s convictions about localknowledge were supported by memorableexamples. Reading a 1988 cartoon aboutthe garbage problem in Georgetown, achallenge which has changed the name ofthe former “garden city” to what manytoday call “the garbage city,” Payne notedthat if one were to go back to early maps ofGeorgetown, one might see why there issuch a garbage problem in today’strenches. Pavement or streets have simplybeen put on top of a lot of the canals whichhad been constructed for the outflow ofwater, Payne explained. Payne also recalled

that, in 1981, he had written to thenpresident of Guyana, Linden ForbesBurnham, regarding renewed tensionsbetween Venezuela and Guyana whenVenezuela refused to renew the Protocol ofPort-of-Spain (signed in 1970 when a 12-year moratorium had been invoked on apersistent border dispute between the twocountries). Payne noted in his letter thatGuyana needed to establish a grouping oflocally reposed archives as this was theonly information, or records, Venezuela hadnot seen, though Venezuela, according toPayne, had been working on the problem fora long while. The importance of local historyand knowledge was assiduouslyunderscored throughout Payne’s talk. “Whatabout the village offices?” Payne asked. “Ifrecords exist, they might be seen as part ofthe local patrimony. What aboutecclesiastical records? Not enoughattention is given to them,” Payne said.“What about business archives?”

Payne also claimed that archives “oughtto be the preserve of every citizen”. In aninterview with me after his lecture, Payneindicated that though the archives hadalways technically been open to everyone,there had been no real encouragement touse them before his time. Payne started todo a series on the air called Today in History(the radio programme also produced severalbooklets), in which he underscored theimportance of archival records. Payne hadtried to use archival data to explain to theindividual his/her rights, and Payne said thatthis belief led to the opening up of/widerencouragement to use the archives.

Payne suggested local knowledge couldbe easily augmented. He noted that whilemany people held important institutionalmemory which needs to be kept for

posterity “very few people tend to leaveexit reports”. Payne pointed to AJSeymour’s Thirty Years a Civil Servant (self-published in 1982) which, for Payne,functioned as a sort of exit report and said itshould be modelled by those who holdpositions in civil offices.

Question period raised other issues;notably, several individuals queried whatcould be done with the case of records thathad deliberately been destroyed. Ininterview, Payne maintained, for one, thatmany documents from Burnham’sadministration had been destroyed whengovernments shifted. Payne’s lectureindicated he had been a Burnham supporter,and Payne, in interview, said Burnhamrecognised Payne’s research as somethinghe could build policies on. For example,Payne noted that when Burnham was goingto repeal the law on obeah, Payne did theresearch. Payne’s lecture indicated hebelieved his role necessitated he report tosomeone high up. Payne also said ininterview, however, that he accepted thefact Burnham wasn’t God; his lecturerecounted one instance when he wrote toBurnham, indicating institutionalreorganisation was needed and saying hewas going to write a document.. Burnhamstopped talking to him for a year, Payne said,then added, “Let’s debate the myth aboutBurnham not being able to be censored.”

Payne spoke to his audience about hisgreatest grievance as an archivist. FormerArchbishop of the West Indies and head ofthe Anglican Church of St George’s,Georgetown, Alan John Knight, hadapproached Payne and offered him all therecords from the Anglican Churches inGuyana. Payne was unable to take them.

The archives remain largely undigitised,Payne pointed out, but his lecture drewattention to the National ArchivesDigitisation Project (“coordinated by theMinistry of Culture, members of the NationalArchives and Dev. Information Technology ofNorth America,” according to the Ministry ofCulture, Youth and Sports’ website). The firstphase of the digitisation of East Indianimmigration records was intended tocoincide with the 175th anniversary of thefirst arrival of Indians in Guyana (May 2013),though it had to be pushed back untilrecently. Payne recognised the endeavour asvaluable but noted many other documentsneed protection.

Near the end of questions, Payne asked,“How many can tell me the significance ofMay 26, 1954 in terms of local history?”There were several whispers. “That waswhen Victoria was blown up,” Payneanswered. Payne was referring to thestatue of Queen Victoria in front ofGeorgetown’s law courts whose head andorb-bearing left hand were blown apart bydynamite 12 years before Guyana’sindependence. “The archives are all aroundus,” Payne concluded.

Tommy Payne is the author of 10 Days inAugust 1834: 10 Days that Changed theWorld (Caribbean Diaspora Press, 2001). Heis currently working on a book on AngelGabriel (James Sayers Orr).

Dr Stephanie McKenzie is an associateprofessor, English Programme, GrenfellCampus, Memorial University,Newfoundland, Canada.

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Hugh ‘Tommy’ Payne, MorayHouse, Georgetown, Guyana.(PHOTO: STEPHANIE MCKENZIE)

The Importance ofGUYANA’S ARCHIVES

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