Introduction
The earliest document in the Archives, a letter from Louis Vernet appointing Captain Smyley as the official pilot for shipping in Port Louis, Port William and other East Falkland waters, is dated 1831. However, only intermittent records from the 1830’s have survived and consistent records do not begin until the arrival of Governor Moody in 1842.
Although systematic records were kept after this date, their survival was a matter of chance. Many losses occurred over the years as a result of poor binding, careless handling and fires in government buildings. For many years the archives were kept in a room in the Secretariat. In 1977 a records specialist from the Public Records Office in England was commissioned to report on the Falkland Islands Archives and make recommendations for their future protection and use. At about the same time a conservator arrived on a three-month contract to repair some of the most fragile and severely damaged early material and the Archives were moved from the Secretariat and allocated the top floor of the old BAS building and at the time housed the FIGAS offices and the Meteorological Office. Sydney Miller agreed to take on the post of Honorary Archivist and to supervise access to the Archives.
During the 1982 invasion the Archives were broken into by Argentine troops, but miraculously the room was simply used as shelter and little damage appeared to have resulted to the records. The most obvious signs of occupancy apart from plates of food were the trampled maps which had apparently been pulled off the shelves to serve as bedding.
In 1989 Jane Cameron started to carry out preservation work on some of the badly damaged material in the Registrar’s Office and in 1990 began working full time as the first Government Archivist. An archives workshop was established in an ex-military Portakabin, temporarily sited in what is now the Gilbert House car park. When this Portakabin was removed the workshop was transferred to Gilbert House but the holdings remained in the building by the Public Jetty, a matter of serious concern due to the high fire risk. Various options for their storage were investigated, including the use of the old Smithy in the Dockyard, but no satisfactory solution was found.
In 1996 funding was allocated for a purpose-built Government Archives and this was constructed on Jeremy Moore Avenue 1997/1998 with the records transferred from the old building in June 1998.
In 2001 Tansy Bishop was employed to start the sorting, cataloguing and databasing of the holdings.
Sadly, Jane passed away at the end of 2009 due to injuries received in a traffic accident. In November 2010 the archives were changed from a Government Archives to a National Archives and renamed in memory of Jane. Tansy was appointed the National Archivist and since then has worked to accession private and corporate records as well as to promote and make the holdings more accessible.
The Old Archive Building to the east of the Public Jetty
CUL-ARC-1-1. Suggested transference of the files in the Governors Office to the CSO.pdf337.04 KB
CUL-ARC-1-2. Records of the Falkland Islands in Public Record Office London.pdf1.19 MB
CUL-ARC-1-4. Preservation of official records in Colonial Territories.pdf812.76 KB
CUL-ARC-1-5. Report on the Archives of the Falkland Islands by D H Gifford January 1979.pdf3.72 MB
CUL-ARC-1-8. Training of archivist.pdf1.27 MB
Disclaimer
While every effort has been taken to ensure accuracy the Jane Cameron National Archives does not accept responsibility for any errors or omissions in these records.
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