A manuscript is, by definition, a book, document or other composition written by hand; a typewritten or handwritten version of a book, an article, a document, or other work, especially the author’s own copy, prepared and submitted for publication in print, which makes the Manuscript Collection of the National Library unique and one of our most valuable. The Collection consists of unpublished material such as plantation records, correspondence, diaries and scrapbooks. Among the most notable are the following:

1. The Walter A. Roberts Archive Guide
2. The Letter Books of Roger Hope Elletson (a former Governor of Jamaica) – 1766 – 1780
3. Sir George Nugent Papers (Governor of Jamaica, 1801 – 1806) – 1795 – 1806)
4. The Papers of the Archbishop Enos Nuttall – 1860 – 1916
5. The Dawkins Plantation Records – 1660 – 1812
6. “Multum in Parvo” by John Taylor written in 1683. It gives a detailed account of early life in Jamaica.

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