These are the primary repositories for Jamaican vital records and other historical documents. They are the main sources of the vast number of documents you can find on the major genealogy websites recommended for Jamaican ancestry research. Many of the documents in these historic registries and archives have been filmed and digitized and made accessible online. Each repository has a website except for the Roman Catholic Archives.
The Primary Historic Repositories
- The Registrar General’s Department (RGD), Twickenham Park, Jamaica: The RGD is the keeper of Jamaica’s baptisms, birth, marriage, death, and burial records; wills, inventories, land patents, deeds, and other documents.
Website: https://www.rgd.gov.jm/ - The Jamaica Archives and Records Department (JARD): The Jamaica Archives unit of the JARD in Spanish Town preserves historical, archival vital records, and other documents, many of which originated in 1664. Government official records and other archival material, important to Jamaica’s history, heritage, and culture, are housed at the Government Records Centre of the JARD in Kingston.
Website: https://www.jard.gov.jm/ - The Roman Catholic Archives, Kingston, Jamaica: Holds the records of catholic baptisms/births, marriages, burials/deaths at the Chancery, the office of the Archbishop.
Address: Roman Catholic Archivist, 21 Hopefield Ave, Kingston 6, Jamaica
Phone: (809) 927-9915 - The Institute of Jamaica: The historic Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) was established to advance the knowledge of culture, art, literature, and science in Jamaica.
Website: https://instituteofjamaica.org.jm/ - The National Library of Jamaica: The National Library of Jamaica (NLJ) houses the best collection of newspapers and historical and contemporary books on West Indian culture and life in the Caribbean. It was established in 1979 at the Institute of Jamaica out of the collection of the West India Reference Library (WIRL) of the IOJ.
Website: https://nlj.jm/ - The University of the West Indies: The library of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus, houses the West Indies and Special Collections. The collection houses materials from Jamaica and other Caribbean islands and includes rare books, manuscripts, newspapers, as well as scholarly works from staff and students.
Website: https://www.mona.uwi.edu/library/west-indies-special-collections - The National Archives at Kew, UK: The National Archives (TNA) holds numerous original, historical Jamaican materials, many of which are also in Jamaica’s archives. They include documents and colonial correspondence the government of Jamaica sent to England throughout its colonial history; the “Slave Registers” and slave manumission records; the Jamaica Almanacs; and wills proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC), London.
Website: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ - The British Library (BL), London, UK: The library (formerly part of the British Museum), houses books holdings books, journals, personal and estate papers, and maps that are important for Jamaican genealogy research. Documents in Jamaican archives that were digitized by the Endangered Archives Program, including slave manumissions are available on the BL’s website.
Website: https://www.bl.uk/
Visit the Websites
Visit the websites for more information on the valuable holdings of these websites. Many of the documents that are important for Jamaican genealogy and history research were digitized and are accessible on the sites.