Century-old documents threatened by gangs

These offensives against heritage libraries, guardians of the past, endanger the preservation of centuries of history in Haiti

The gang coalitionLive Together» threatens several documentation centers and libraries in the metropolitan area, endangering century-old documents, according to AyiboPost interviews with several officials of these institutions.

These offensives against heritage libraries, guardians of the past, endanger the preservation of centuries of history in Haiti.

The country mainly has three heritage libraries: the Haitian Library of the Spiritans (BHS), the Haitian Library of the Brothers of Christian Instruction (BHIFIC) and the National Library of Haiti (BNH).

These unique institutions throughout the Caribbean preserve centuries of archives on the colonization, history and culture of the Haitian people.

On the first day of April 2024, bandits entered the BHS space and set fire to vehicles in the courtyard of the institution, a source close to the structure confirms to AyiboPost, the evening of the attack .

If the staff were evacuated well before the attack, “documents are still found within the space”, which represents a significant risk, continues the source.

Located on Lamarre Street, BHS has been serving the community for 150 years. It has already been forced to slow down its activities in 2023 because of insecurity.

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Founded in 1873, the BHS contains more than 35,000 works, around 1,000 copies of scientific journals and 500 maps and archival documents.

Its historical collection on slavery remains one of the richest in the Caribbean.

The BHS also has on its shelves one of the oldest titles of “The Decades of the New World or West India”, published in 1555.

This book by Peter Martyr d’Anghiera recounts the Spanish conquests of the New World, colonization, etc.

The exile of the Spiritans under the presidency of François Duvalier and the earthquake of January 12, 2010 had already weakened the protection of this historical heritage.

The Araka Center (Api pou Rechèch ak Animasyon Kiltirèl Ayisyen) founded in 1988 to serve the districts of Morne à Tuffe and Bas-peu-de-Chose, ceased its activities in 2021 because rue de l’Enterrement had become inaccessible.

Traders and a station of improvised vehicles obstruct the entrance to the space.

During a gang assault, the 1^is March 2024, the Araka Center library was ransacked.

«No documentary lossesbut vandalized materials and difficult access to space,” explains Evens Dossous, a library manager.

For the moment, “there is not yet an assessment of the damage caused,” continues Dossous, affirming that part of the center’s 5,000 works was moved to the Cultural Center of Brazil in Pétion-Ville, eight days after the attack.

Housed since 1940 on rue du Center, the BNH suffered the terror of gangs on April 3, 2024.

Acts of vandalism have been reported in this space where documents relating to two centuries of Haitian history are archived.

Furniture was stolen and the bandits also damaged the building’s electrical generator.

BHIFIC, founded in 1912, has documents on Haitian history, culture and legislation.

The text “Caribbean-Francois Dictionary» published in 1665 is part of a very rare collection on the pre-Columbian period.

The “Laws and Constitutions of the French Colonies…” are also important documents published by Moreau de St-Merv, in six volumes.

The BHIFIC also houses numerous letters from settlers, plans for colonial dwellings, notarial deeds, slave sale papers, as well as an adaptation of the Ten Commandments of God, objectively aimed at instilling in slaves submission to the settlers.

The oldest newspapers in the country such as, “Feuille de Commerce” (1832), the Moniteur from 1865 to the present day, “l’Union Patriotique” (1873), “Le Matin” (1898 – August 2013), “Le Nouvelliste » from 1898 to the present day, are at the BHIFIC.

This library also houses geographical, floral, religious, medical and educational archives.

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The BNH, founded in 1939 and inaugurated in 1940 under the governance of President Sténio Vincent, constitutes the first public library in the country.

Having been affected in 1954 by Cyclone Hazel, the BNH was rehabilitated two years later.

Its documentary collection, the most diversified in the country, contains collections of newspapers such as Le Matin, Le Nouveau Monde, Le Nouvelliste, La Phalange, Le Journal du Commerce, Haïti-Progrès, Haïti-Observateur, La Nation, Haïti en Marche, etc.

It also houses files concerning the negotiations for the payment of compensation recognizing national independence, by President Jean-Pierre Boyer, in 1825.

The BNH stores within it texts on education, coming from the Maurice Dartigue funds and rare titles such as “Pour l’histoire”, written by Jean-Baptiste Conzé, the character who delivered Charlemagne Peralte to the Americans during the period of occupation, thus attempting to justify his action.

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If these heritage archive funds at the bottom of the city of Port-au-Prince are threatened by various hazards, mainly gang attacks, the BHS and BHIFIC (2019) have started work to digitize the works in partnership with the Digital Library of the Caribbean (Dloc), the Réseau Francophone Numérique, the Memory Foundation for Slavery, etc.

Par Jérôme Wendy Norestyl

Cover image: Document on the Anse-à-Veau earthquake of October 27, 1952, prepared by the Meteorological Observatory of the Petit-Séminaire Collège Saint-Martial, available at the Haitian Spiritan Library (BHS).

The images are from David Lorens Mentor/AyiboPost

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