The Caribbean Collection:
An Archival Survey of the Records of the
Jamaican and Trinidadian Communities of Brooklyn

Progress Report - November 2001


  • Julia Shaw of Shaw-Hunter Associates, Inc. shared her expertise in Caribbean media outreach in a consultation with the project coordinator.  Implementation of her suggestions has helped to increase project visibility and improve project reception.

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  • We are proud to welcome three new members to the Advisory Committee this month: 
    • William Jones-Executive Director of the Caribbean American Sports Youth Movement
    • Dr. Joyce Toney-Caribbean Historian and Professor of Black and Latino Studies at Hunter College-CUNY
    • Dr. Calvin Holder-Professor of History and Director of the African American Studies Program at The College of Staten Island-CUNY.

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  • The next Advisory Committee meeting has been scheduled.  Presently, we are preparing a new mission statement to explicitly describe the expectations of this very important project component.

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  • We are pleased with the new steady pace of Survey appointments.  A total of four are in various stages of completion.  As we are now in the process of preparing participating organization web pages, we will begin posting our findings over the next few weeks. Many more organizations have agreed to participate and are now in the process of locating and gathering their documents.

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  • The project web site has been updated.  We removed some incorrect information from the FAQ page.  We have added the adjusted document survey form that was developed last month.   Our bibliography has been augmented and now includes additional works by our new Advisory Committee member, Joyce Toney.  Also, we are making minor adjustments to the index page and background design.

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  • Project outreach is going well.  A presentation made for the executive board of the Union of Jamaica Alumni Association was positively received.  Efforts have also been made to represent the project at various community functions and events.  These have proved to be an excellent means of meeting and talking to key community leaders.  We have also begun our press outreach-a new press release has been sent to Caribbean Life, Carib News and The New York Amsterdam News.  Efforts also have been made to contact Everybody's and Community News.  These are only a percentage of the key media outlets in the community-we have compiled a list of many more and will contact them in the upcoming weeks.

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  • A new pamphlet that more explicitly states the project procedures, goals, and benefits has been developed and distributed to Caribbean organizations and leaders.

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  • Project staff presented a progress report to a representative of the Documentary Heritage Program.  We were able to share our present goals for the project as well as our ideas for future development. 

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  • We are now actively in the planning stages of our educational outreach component.  We are developing the content and making necessary logistic decisions for project workshops.  The workshops will cater to both the archival community, and Caribbean organizations.  Different workshops are be prepared for each audience group.

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  • The project field assistant is leaving the project in January to pursue other avenues in the field of library science. We are now in the process of interviewing a new field assistant.

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  • Academic research about the Jamaican, Trinidadian & Tobagonian, and Pan-Caribbean community  continues so that the survey will accurately reflect the dynamics of the community.

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