The Richard B. Sheridan Collection was acquired by the Mona Library in 2008. This donation was made possible by the Sheridan Estate and the University of Kansas. It was Sheridan’s wish that his books and papers be donated to the University of the West Indies, making his research available to the University community and other interested individuals.
Richard Sheridan made distinguished contribution to Caribbean historiography and was a pre-eminent economic historian. His work was largely an analysis of British West Indian trade within the context of the Atlantic economy, where he argued the importance of the West Indies to the accumulation of wealth in Europe. He made significant contribution to the study of Caribbean slavery and slave society and authored two major works:-Sugar and Slavery: An economic History of West Indies,1623-1775 and Doctors and Slavery: A Medical and Demographic History of Slavery in the British West Indies,1680-1834-as well as several seminal articles.
The Collection comprises books, handwritten and typed notes and manuscripts, correspondence and off prints with notations. Having been largely kept intact, the items are arranged thematically and made accessible via the Sheridan Collection Finding Aid which is presently being prepared.
