By Theresa Goodwin
The road to full rehabilitation has been long and hard, and fraught with several challenges and setbacks. However, the staff of the National Archives of Antigua and Barbuda are celebrating one huge achievement, the completion of the roof which leaked in several places.
This accomplishment was made possible through the support of the Cultural Emergency Response Programme of the Prince Claus Fund in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Public Works Department.
Director of the National Archives, Joseph Prosper said while this is a step in the right direction, the work is far from over.
“We got funding to do partial repairs of the roof over the reading room, research room, the exhibition room and the electrical and the digitisation room, so with all the rains we had over the past few weeks, there was no leakage”.
“We still need repairs to be done in Repository room number two. The ceiling needs to go in, the ventilation duct from the central air condition room needs to be removed and replaced. We still have a serious problem with water that comes off the roof and floods the entrance of the building as well as the exhibition room,” Prosper said.
He also explained that the Repository room is in dire need of repairs and tiles need to be installed in the Conservation room so that decades-old files that were removed for safety purposes can be replaced.
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