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Inscribed on the Memory of the World International Register in 2009 and on the Regional Register for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2011, these papers document Sir Arthur’s career as a scholar and as an economic advisor to many international commissions as well as to several African, Asian and Caribbean governments. Sir Arthur (1915-1991) was born in Castries, St. Lucia. His papers include biographical data; professional correspondence; country files; documents relating to organizations with which he had an affiliation; papers associated with his position as Vice Chancellor of The University of the West Indies and as a professor of economics; other writings; and audiovisual materials, including the 1979 Nobel Laureate ceremony.

Sir Arthur was a pioneer in the field of development economics and a leading authority on economic growth. His collection demonstrates that his interest in economics was broad-based and sought to integrate many strands of the discipline with policy-making. These range from an interest in economic planning in industrialized countries to an absorption in the economic development of developing countries and the international trading system. In 1979, he became the first Black man to be awarded an academic Nobel Prize (Economics) for his analysis of economic growth and the structural transformation of the economies of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. His construction of an innovative economic model which fused his understanding of economic history with an analysis of the forms of economic organization of the colonial economies produced an unprecedented futuristic model for economic development in what is now known as the Developing World (Third World). He also authored several classic publications on economics and development economics, e.g., Theory of Economic Growth and Developmental Economics. Among the notable professional/academic positions that Sir Arthur held was being appointed in 1948 as the first Black person to hold the position of Stanley Jevons Professor of Political Economy at the University of Manchester (United Kingdom). He served as United Nations Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah; Deputy Managing Director of the United Nations Special Fund; and, as a Vice Chancellor of The University of the West Indies. Sir Arthur’s achievements are all the more notable because during colonialism it was very unusual for Blacks to have achieved this level of academic performance and recognition, especially in the field of economics. In 1963, Lewis was knighted by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to economics.

This nomination was presented by The National Archives Authority of Saint Lucia. The owner of the papers is Yale University.