Barbados: Political Parties Material

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0101 PP.BB
Held at	: Institute of Commonwealth Studies   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/resources/library ›
Full title	: Barbados: Political Parties Material
Date(s)	: 1941-
Level of description	: Collection (Fonds)
Extent	: 2 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Institute of Commonwealth Studies
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The gradual extension of the franchise in the decades prior to independence led to the marginalisation in the House of Assembly of parties such as the Progressive Conservatives, which represented the interests of the planter class (although they maintained their dominance in the Legislative Council), while at the same time the contest for dominance in the democratic arena polarised into a struggle between Grantley Adams' Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and the more radical Democratic Labour Party (DLP) led by Errol Barrow, who was eventually to become Barbados's first post-independence Prime Minister. There was also a vigorous debate over the role and value of the short-lived West Indies Federation (1958-1962) which was strongly supported by Adams. The materials held here deal with these issues in detail as well as covering the electoral struggle between the two main parties after 1966.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Manifestos, speeches, pamphlets, leaflets, letters, newsletters, journals, posters, stickers, recordings and miscellaneous election material at national and youth levels issued by the Barbados Electors' Association, the Barbados Labour Party, the Barbados Progressive League, the Democratic Labour Party (Barbados), the Movement for National Liberation (Barbados), the National Democratic Party (Barbados), the Progressive Conservative Party (Barbados), the People's Political Alliance (Barbados) and the People's Progressive Movement (Barbados).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Alphabetically by party, and then in rough chronological order.

Conditions governing access:

Open to all for research purposes; access is free for anyone in higher education.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can usually be obtained - apply to library staff.

Finding aids:

Records at item level on library catalogue (SASCAT)

Archival Information

Archival history:

The ICS political parties collection was begun in 1960-1961, with special emphasis being placed on primary material such as party constitutions, policy statements, convention reports and election manifestos. Since then, the main method of gathering material has been to appeal directly to political parties throughout the Commonwealth, though contributions from Institute members and staff following visits to relevant countries have been significant. More recently material has been collected by means of downloading documents from the websites of the major parties.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Allied Materials

Related material:

See also Barbados: Trades Unions Material (TU.BB) and Barbados: Pressure Groups Material (PG.BB), as well as Political Party, Trades Unions and Pressure Group Materials for other Commonwealth countries and related material in the library's main classified sequence, all held at the ICS.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Description compiled by Daniel Millum, Political Archives Project Officer at the Institutes of Commonwealth and Latin American Studies.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Created 17/02/2004 AIM25