Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 2.4 linear feet (6 archival boxes)

Summary

1. The Haitian Military Collection is chiefly comprised of reports, written in French, from various military and security organizations that constituted the Haitian Armed Forces (Forces Armée d'Haïti, FAd'H). These include reports from military branches of the Haitian Air Force (Corps D'Aviation) and the Haitian Navy (La Marine Haïtienne); from the specially trained small armed units of La Garde Présidentielle and Corps des Léopards; from the police force that also fell under the central military command of the FAd'H; and from the school of Académie Militaire d'Haïti and the military training institution of Camp d'Application. This collection also holds a few documents from the terrorizing militia called the Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (VSN), infamously known as Tonton Macoutes which, although not officially under the command of the FAd'H, was organizationally tied to the FAd'H because of shared interests in national security and intelligence.

Subject

1. Haiti > Armed Forces
2. Haiti > Military police
3. Political crimes and offenses > Haiti
4. Saint-Albin, Roger
5. Force armée d'Haïti
6. Haiti > Social life and customs
7. Tontons macoutes
8. Haiti > Social conditions
9. Namphy, Henri
10. Duvalier, Jean-Claude, 1951-2014
11. Haiti > History > 1934-1986
12. Haiti > History > 20th century
13. Haiti > Armed Forces > Political activity > History > 20th century
14. National security > Haiti
15. Haiti > Politics and government > 20th century

Call number

1. Sc MG 735

Note

1. The bulk of the collection is in French; there is no English translation available.

Source (note)

1. Frantz Voltaire

Location of other archival materials (note)

1. Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Book Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Biography (note)

1. Force Armée d'Haïti (Fad'H) comprised all military branches of the Haitian armed forces, including the police and played a central role in Haitian political life for most of the 20th century. It evolved out of a professionalized constabulary force called gendarmerie created by American officials during the U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915-1934). In 1928 it became the Garde d'Haiti, signaling its growth into a national institution, and was rechristened Fad'H in 1958 under the dictatorship of François Duvalier. The Fad'H exercised considerable control within the Haitian government, usually implicitly or overtly involved in the selection or removal of Haitian heads of state. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, returning to power in 1995 after being ousted by the military in 1991, disbanded the FAd'H in an attempt to end the political instability caused by the Haitian military.

Title

1. Force Armée d'Haïti documents, 1964-1987 (bulk 1980-1987).

Series

1. Haiti -- Military police.

Biography

1. Force Armée d'Haïti (Fad'H) comprised all military branches of the Haitian armed forces, including the police and played a central role in Haitian political life for most of the 20th century. It evolved out of a professionalized constabulary force called gendarmerie created by American officials during the U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915-1934). In 1928 it became the Garde d'Haiti, signaling its growth into a national institution, and was rechristened Fad'H in 1958 under the dictatorship of François Duvalier. The Fad'H exercised considerable control within the Haitian government, usually implicitly or overtly involved in the selection or removal of Haitian heads of state. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, returning to power in 1995 after being ousted by the military in 1991, disbanded the FAd'H in an attempt to end the political instability caused by the Haitian military.

Location of other archival materials

1. Haiti Dechoukaj Collection and Duvalierist Government Collection. Also located at Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Book Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Source

1. Frantz Voltaire Purchase Nov 2003 SCM 3-37

Connect to:

1. Finding Aid

Research call number

1. Sc MG 735