The University of the West Indies

The authentic Trini steelpan on display in the UWI Museum serves a lot of purposes: It is an artifact in its own right, donated to the UWI by a former alumna who became Prime Minister of the twin-island republic that gave birth to pan; it conjures T&T and the UWI St Augustine Campus there; it is a unique musical instrument. It also provides the museum the occasional opportunity to fill the space with the signature sound.

by Suzanne Francis-Brown, UWI Museum Curator
One of my bucket list items this past few weeks was tracking early documents relating to the UWI’s lost Charter – the first Royal Charter, granted in 1949 and lost in a plane crash en route to the founding Mona campus in Jamaica. Some of those documents are on deposit at the UK National Archives, and they include  explanations of why a Royal Charter was considered the best option as the nascent university developed its governance and administrative structures.