Memory of the World Register – Latin America and the Caribbean
The first inscriptions on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register were made in 1997. By creating a compendium of the world’s documentary heritage—manuscripts, oral traditions, audio-visual materials, library and archive holdings—the program aims to tap on its networks of experts to exchange information and raise resources for the preservation, digitization, and dissemination of documentary materials. As of 2013, 193 documentary heritages have been included in the Register, among them recordings of folk music, ancient languages and phonetics, aged remnants of religious and secular manuscripts, collective lifetime works of renowned giants of literature, science and music, copies of landmark motion pictures and short films, and accounts documenting changes in the world’s political, economic and social stage. Of these, 33 properties were nominated by countries from the region of Latin America and the Caribbean.
List by country/territory
| Documentary heritage | Country/Territory | Custodian, Location | Year inscribed | Reference |
| The West India Committee collection | ,,,, | Sidney Martin Library | 2015 | |
| Documentary heritage of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata | National Archives, Buenos Aires | 1997 | ||
| Human Rights Documentary Heritage 1976–1983 - Archives for Truth, Justice and Memory in the struggle against State Terrorism |
| 2007 | ||
| The Villa Ocampo Documentation Center | , |
| 2017 | |
| Farquharson’s Journal | Bahamas Archives, Nassau | 2009 | ||
| Registry of Slaves of the British Caribbean 1817-1834 | ,,,,,, |
| 2009 | |
| Documentary Heritage of Enslaved Peoples of the Caribbean | Barbados Museum and Historical Society, St. Michael | 2003 | ||
| Federal Archives Fonds | University of West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown | 2009 | ||
| The Nita Barrow Collection | University of West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown | 2009 | ||
| Silver Men: West Indian Labourers at the Panama Canal | ,,,,, |
| 2011 | |
| The West Indian Commission Papers | Sidney Martin Library | 2015 | ||
| An African Song or Chant from Barbados | , | Gloucestershire Archives | 2017 | |
| American Colonial Music: a sample of its documentary richness | ,,, |
| 2007 | |
| Documentary Fonds of Royal Audiencia Court of La Plata | Archivo Nacional de Bolivia | 2011 | ||
| Cathedral of La Plata Church Music Manuscript Collection | Archivo Nacional de Bolivia | 2013 | ||
| Life and Works of Ernesto Che Guevara: from the originals manuscripts of its adolescence and youth to the campaign Diary in Bolivia | , | Che Guevara Studies Center | 2013 | |
| The Emperor's collection: foreign and Brazilian photography in the 19th century | Fundação Biblioteca Nacional | 2003 | ||
| Network of information and counter information on the military regime in Brazil | National Archives of Brazil | 2011 | ||
| Dutch West India Company archives | ,,, ,,,, |
| 2011 | |
| Architectural Archive of Oscar Niemeyer | Fundação Oscar Niemeyer para Fins Culturais | 2013 | ||
| Documents regarding the Emperor D. Pedro II’s journeys in Brazil and abroad | Museu Imperial | 2013 | ||
| Antonio Carlos Gomes | , |
| 2015 | |
| Fundo Comitê de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos para os Países do Cone Sul | , | Centro de Documentação e Informação Científica “Prof. Casemiro dos Reis Filho” | 2015 | |
| The War of the Triple Alliance Iconographic and cartographic presentations | , |
| 2015 | |
| Collection Educator Paulo Freire | Instituto Paulo Freire | 2017 | ||
| Nise da Silveira Personal Archive | Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente | 2017 | ||
| Human Rights Archive | Chilean National Archive, Santiago | 2003 | ||
| Jesuits of America | Chilean National Archive, Santiago | 2003 | ||
| Collections of printed Chilean popular poetry: Lira popular |
| 2013 | ||
| Negros y Esclavos Archives | Archivo General de la Nación de Colombia, Bogotá | 2005 | ||
| Abolition of the Army in Costa Rica | Dirección General del Archivo Nacional, San José | 2017 | ||
| Central American Court of Justice | Dirección General del Archivo Nacional, San José | 2017 | ||
| “José Martí Pérez” Fonds | Marti Study Centre, Havana | 2005 | ||
| Original Negative of the Noticiero ICAIC Lationamericano | Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos, Havana | 2009 | ||
| Archive Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie | ,, | Zeeuws Archief | 2011 | |
| Book for the Baptism of Slaves | Historical Archives of the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo | 2009 | ||
| Documentary Heritage on the Resistance and struggle for Human Rights in the Dominican Republic, 1930–1961 |
| 2009 | ||
| The Gaze of the Other: Documentary heritage of the Salesian apostolic vicariate in the Ecuadorian Amazon 1890-1930 | Comunidad salesiana, Quito | 2015 | ||
| Ignacio Ellacuría’s Documentary Fond: Historical Reality and Liberation | Curia provincial Jesuitas | 2017 | ||
| The Florid Recollection, a historical speech and natural, material, military and political account of the Reyno of Guatemala | General Archive of Central America | 2017 | ||
| Records of the Indian Indentured Labourers | ,,, |
| 2011 | |
| Odette Mennesson Rigaud holdings | Bibliothèque Haïtienne des Pères du Saint-Esprit | 2017 | ||
| Collection of Mexican Codices | National Library of Anthropology and History, Mexico City | 1997 | ||
| Codices from the Oaxaca Valley | National Archives, Mexico City | 1997 | ||
| Codex Techaloyan de Cuajimalpaz | National Archives, Mexico City | 1997 | ||
| Los olvidados | Filmoteca de la UNAM, Mexico | 2003 | ||
| Biblioteca Palafoxiana | Biblioteca Palafoxiana, Puebla | 2005 | ||
| Colección de Lenguas Indigenas | University of Guadalajara, Guadalajara | 2007 | ||
| Collection of the Center of Documentation and Investigation of the Ashkenazi Community in Mexico | Center of Documentation and Investigation of the Ashkenazi Community of Mexico, Mexico City | 2009 | ||
| Sixteenth to eighteenth century pictographs from the “Maps, drawings and illustrations” of the National Archives of Mexico | National Archives, Mexico City | 2011 | ||
| Old fonds of the historical archive at Colegio de Vizcaínas: women's education and support in the history of the world | Historical Archive Colegio de San Ignacio de Loyola, Vizcaínas “José María Basagoiti Noriega” | 2013 | ||
| Judicial files concerning the birth of a right: the effective remedy as a contribution of the Mexican writ of amparo to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 | Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación | 2015 | ||
| The Archives of negatives, publications and documents of Manuel Álvarez Bravo | Archivo Manuel Álvarez Bravo, S.C | 2017 | ||
| National Literacy Crusade | Institute of History of Nicaragua and Central America, Managua | 2007 | ||
| Archives of Terror | Center of Documentation and Archives for the Defence of Human Rights, Asunción | 2009 | ||
| Peruvian and South American First Editions | Biblioteca Nacional del Peru | 2013 | ||
| Travelling Registry of the Conquistadors or “Becerro Book” | Archivo General de la Nación, Lima, | 2013 | ||
| Sir William Arthur Lewis Papers | Seely G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton | 2009 | ||
| Route/Root to Freedom: A case study of how enslaved Africans gained their freedom on the dual national island of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin | Department of Records and Information Management, Philipsburg | 2017 | ||
| The Derek Walcott Collection | University of West Indies, St. Augustine | 1997 | ||
| Eric Williams Memorial Collection | University of West Indies, St. Augustine | 1999 | ||
| The C.L.R. James Collection | University of West Indies, St. Augustine | 2005 | ||
| Constantine Collection | National Library and Information System Authority, Port of Spain | 2011 | ||
| Original records of Carlos Gardel - Horacio Loriente Collection | Archivo General de la Nación, Montevideo | 2003 | ||
| General Archive of the Nation - Writings of The Liberator Simón Bolívar | National Archives, Caracas | 1997 | ||
| Collection of Latin American photographs of the 19th Century | National Library, Caracas | 1997 | ||
| Colombeia: Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda’s Archives | Academia Nacional de La Historia, Caracas | 2007 |