The West India Committee’s Library and Archive covers over 500 years of Caribbean history and is recognised as a UNESCO Memory of the World collection. This includes a wide array of primary sources, histories and photographic evidence covering a wide range of topics from the economic history of the region to travel guides. We apologise but we are currently unable welcome visitors to the collection as we leave our current premises. However, we are still able to answer enquries via  enquiries@westindiacommittee.org

The catalogues of the Library and Archive can be found through the links below.

Library Catalogue         Archive Catalogue

The Committee uses its collection to further public knowledge of the history, heritage and culture of the Caribbean, often through heritage projects. To learn more about these projects and their outcomes, please visit our West Indian History, Heritage and Culture website, where you can find a variety of educational materials, including e-books, education packs, posters and short videos.

For researchers, many items in the collection have been digitised as part of our heritage projects, namely material relating to the role of the Caribbean in the First World War, the history of the Thames River Police, and the history of the British Army and the Caribbean, as well as some other items of interest, which can all be found in the Archive section. Please note that the majority of these documents and books are very old, and feature language and opinions found unacceptable in the modern day. We have also digitised items in our photographic collection, which can be found in the Gallery.

As all the material held in our collection is copyrighted, please do contact us if you wish to reproduce an image.

The originals of many of the early minutes of the West India Committee are now held at the University of the West Indies. Copies of these minutes are available on microfilm at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.