Personal letters between relatives in Trinidadand India during indentureship (1845-1920)

Indian Arrival Day Commemorative Magazine 2018

Indo-Caribbean Cultural Centre (ICC) is proud to announce the publication of its latest magazine commemorating Indian Heritage Month (May 2018) in Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean). The theme of this year’s edition of the magazine is “Personal letters between relatives in Trinidad and India during indentureship (1845-1920).

For the first time in history, these original, private correspondences are being shared with the general public. They were sourced from the National Archives in Trinidad and Tobago.

The letters were written from 1910 - almost at the end of indentureship - to 1922, just after the semi-slave system ended in 1920. These rare documents by ordinary people provide us with a glimpse into their lives. Like the slave letters at the Yale University Library in the USA, these manuscripts leave us with more questions than answers.

May-June 2018

11 x 8 ½ inches

32 pages with advertisements and articles

ISSN 1683-4143

Glossy pages and cover

About Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad and Tobago
Personal letters between relatives in Trinidad and India during indentureship - Editorial
Greetings from the Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts - Dr the Honourable Nyan Gadsby-Dolly
Greetings from the High Commissioner of India - His Excellency Bishwadip Dey
Letter from INDIA to Trinidad … requesting information on a brother
Letter from INDIA to Trinidad … requesting money
Letter from INDIA to Trinidad … requesting information on property
Letter from INDIA to Trinidad … requesting possessions of deceased
Letter from INDIA to Trinidad … requesting return of son
Letter from INDIA to Trinidad … requesting whereabouts of relative
Letter from INDIA to Trinidad … requesting to go to Trinidad
Letter from TRINIDAD to India … requesting remittance from India
Letter from TRINIDAD to India … requesting money to return to India
Letter from TRINIDAD to India … requesting to return to India
Letter from TRINIDAD to India … requesting address in India
Letter from TRINIDAD to India … declaring freedom from indenture

Kumar Mahabir

is a full-time anthropologist at the University of Guyana (UG) and Fellow of The Eccles Centre for American Studies, British Library (2022-23). He is a former Assistant Professor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). He obtained his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida (UF). As a doctoral student, he won a Florida Caribbean Institute Award, an A. Curtis Wilgus Grant, and an Organization of American States (OAS) Fellowship.
Mahabir received a National Award (Hummingbird Silver Medal) for his contribution to education in his country in 2011. He was among 50 recipients who received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the UWI Alumni Association.
Mahabir is the author of 12 books to date.

Personal letters between relatives in Trinidad
and India during indentureship (1845-1920)