Preserving Haitian History

The Miami Herald discusses what's being done in Haiti to save and protect their ravaged libraries, archives and historical documents after the devastating earthquake.

From the piece...

The three largest heritage libraries and the National Archives -- keepers of much of Haiti's complicated, heroic, rich story -- were reportedly lost to the random nature of earthquakes.

Within days of the Jan. 12 disaster, a university staffer 750 miles away worked frantically to deliver better news: the buildings were shaken but still standing; their precious rare books, manuscripts, newspapers and brochures had been spared. And the people who spend day after day caring for the collections were all safe.

But Brooke Wooldridge also learned help was desperately needed to rescue and preserve the treasures that help chronicle Haiti's history, clustered mostly in the four institutions in downtown Port-au-Prince.

``First I worried about the people and making sure everybody working at these institutions were OK, and then I thought about all of those collections,'' said Wooldridge, project coordinator for the Digital Library of the Caribbean at Florida International University. ``I felt very conflicted. Emotionally, I knew there was so much life lost, but I also knew that if the collections were ignored, Haiti's collective memory could be lost. I knew we needed to help'.''

Pictured above: Depiction of the Battle of Ravine-à-Couleuvres (23 February 1802), during the Haitian Revolution.