Belize Archives and Libraries


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Archives

Belize Archives and Records Service
26/28 Unity Blvd
Belmopan City
Belize

Telephone: (501) 822-2097/2247/2507
Email: info@archives.gov.bz
Website: https://www.archives.gov.bz/
Belize Archives and Records Service Facebook

The Belize Archives and Records Service is an Information Resource Center, which is committed to acquire, preserve, and provide information on our National History.

The Caribbean Memory Project
The Caribbean Memory Project Website
The Caribbean Memory Project Facebook

As a long-term archiving and documentary project, The Caribbean Memory Project seeks to help us understand Caribbean history, society and culture in more productive ways. The collection includes a series of different texts: oral histories, photographs and documents of individuals, as well as their affiliation with member organisations (e.g., religious and community groups). These texts function as repositories of knowledge that will not only help to define our identity, but will also provide the kind of awareness that can help ensure the continuity of that identity.
Browse community archives throughout Belize. The following links will go live as archives are added to The Caribbean Memory Project: Belize District, Cayo District, Orange Walk District, Corozal District, Stann Creek District, and Toledo District.

Central American Archives
4th Avenue, 7th and 8th Streets, Zone 1
Guatemala City, Guatemala

This History of the General Archive of Central America located in Guatemala gives more detail on the types of records held.
CRL (Center for Research Libraries) Acquires Central American Archives
Finding Aid
Costa Rica Catalogue Search
Accessing the CRL Collections Information on borrowing records
"The Archivo General de Centroamérica (Central American Archives) 1544-1821, in Guatemala, is the most comprehensive collection found anywhere in the world of historical records spanning the period of Spanish rule in the Americas. The holdings of the Archivo include myriad types of documents covering a host of cultural, legislative, judicial, fiscal, economic, religious, military, agricultural and commercial matters pertaining to the Kingdom of Guatemala, an area which, from the time of the Conquest in 1544 through 1821, embraced modern-day Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and the Mexican State of Chiapas."[1]

Libraries

National Heritage Library
Mountain View Blvd
Belmopan City
Telephone: (501) 822-0397
Email: belize.nhl@gmail.com
Website

Museums

For a list of museums in Belize, go to List of museums in Belize in Wikipedia.

Ambergris Museum
Island Plaza
San Pedro
Ambergris Caye
Belize

Telephone: (501) 628-5150
Website: Ambergris Museum


Ambergris Museum's mission is preserve the history of the area, from ancient Maya village through today, a quiet fishing village and tourist town.

Corozal Museum
129 South End
Corozal Town
Belize

Telephone: (501) 402-3314

Called 'A Window to the Past,' the exhibit at this little museum focuses on the experience of the East Indian population, who arrived around 1838 as indentured servants working on the sugar plantations, but also features traditional items from other ethnic groups.

Gulisi Garifuna Museum
Hummingbird Hwy
Dangriga
Belize

Telephone: (501) 542-2700
Email: gulisimuseum@yahoo.com
Gulisi Garifuna Museum Facebook

The museum offers a full multimedia experience for the visitor. You will learn the origins of the Garifuna people, their history and customs. You will be able to hear the beating of the drums, see a full sized working garden of traditional plants and herbs, and experience the traditional dancing.

Luba Garifuna Museum
4202 Fern Ln
Belize City
Telephone: (501) 202-4331

Email: emericayetano@yahoo.com
Luba Garifuna Museum Facebook

Once you go past the residential gate, you’ll be taken aback by the spacious ground floor display rooms, filled with Garífuna history, cooking utensils, arts and crafts, photographs, books, and traditional clothing.

Maritime Museum
19 Albert St
Swing Bridge Marine Terminal
Belize City
Belize

Telephone: (501) 822-2106/223-1395

Along with the adjacent Coastal Zone museum, their mission is to educate visitors about Belize's seafaring and shipbuilding history through a series of old documents, model boats, paintings and other displays. The Coastal Zone museum explores coral reef ecology in Belize.

Museum of Belize
8 Gabourel Lane
Central Bank Compound
5 Eve St
Belize City

Belize

Telephone: (501) 822-2106/223-1395/223-4524
Email: museumofbelize@gmail.com
Museum of Belize Facebook

The transformed Museum of Belize provides visitors with a historical roadmap into Belize’s vibrant past while retaining mementos of the building’s former residents.

Old Belize Museum
Western Hwy Mile 5
Belize City
Belize

Telephone: (501) 222-4129
Email: info@oldbelize.com

Take a walk through Belize’s fascinating and historical culture from the old world of the Maya to the coastal villages of former pirates on the quest for mahogany, to the current blend cultures that have created the mixing pot society of modern Belize. The museum contains several recreated worlds from various highlights of Belize’s history, complete with facades of buildings built to scale and model humans and props situated to make you feel like you are literally walking through Belize’s past.

The Windows Of Belize Museum
#156 North Front Street
Belize City
Belize

Telephone: (501) 670-1029/227-3401
Email: windowsofbelize.museum@gmail.com
The Windows Of Belize Museum Facebook

The mission of Windows Of Belize is to encourage students, tourists, and all Belizeans to foster an appreciation of our cultural heritage and learn the ways of the Belizean changing cultural practices and lifestyles.

Record Offices

Vital Statistics Unit of Belize
Website Scroll down for addresses, phone numbers, and office hours for all local offices.

References

  1. "Archivo General de Centro America, 1544-1821. Guatemala." at Center for Research Libraries. https://catalog.crl.edu/Record/ab5229b5-a49e-5e58-8fad-e16946ba2a03, accessed 18 October 2022. CRL purchased microfilms of the complete set of the Archivo General de Centroamérica (Central American Archives, or CAA)