UWI Professor Emerita Maureen Warner-Lewis will deliver the National Library of Jamaica Third Distinguished Lecture on Thursday November 25, 2010 at 2:30 pm at Institute of Jamaica’s Lecture Hall. Her lecture is entitled, “The Value of the Moravian Church Archives at Spanish Town.”

The Lecture draws from experiences described in Professor Warner-Lewis’ book Archibald Monteath Igbo, Jamaican, Moravian.”  The book is the record of an Igbo child who was brought to Jamaica around 1820 and sold into slavery. In his adult years he learnt to read and became very active in the Moravian Church. His personal journals along with records from the church are the major source documents for this book.

As is evident from the book, Archibald Monteath Igbo, Jamaican, Moravian”  the church is a rich source of information that may be used in various ways such as marriage records and tombstones. Church records can be a rich source of information for students who are researching history and culture genealogy.

The Lecture intends to sensitize people about the use of church records as sources of information and to encourage churches to keep up-to- date records as well as preserve the older ones.