Diane Gail North-Saunders, OBE (née North; March 10, 1944 – June 30, 2023) was a Bahamian historian, archivist, athlete, and author.[1][2]
North-Saunders established the Bahamian National Archives and was the director from 1971 until 2004.[1] She was the president of the Bahamas Historical Society from 1989 until 1999.[1] North-Saunders was president of the Association of Caribbean Historians, president of the Caribbean Archives Association, and an executive member of the International Council on Archives.[3]
She authored books about Bahamian history including Historic Bahamas,[3] Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People,[4] and Race and Class in the Colonial Bahamas, 1880–1960.[5]
North-Saunders was also one of the four women to first represent the Bahamas in an international sports competition as a member of the sprint relay team at the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games.[3]
Diane Gail North was born to Edward Basil and Audrey Virginia (Isaacs) North on March 10, 1944.[citation needed] During her high school and college years, she was a superior scholar and athlete.[3] North represented the country on the sprint relay team at the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games, in Kingston, Jamaica.[3] At the event, along with Althea Rolle-Clarke, Elaine Thompson, and Christina Jones-Darville, she was one of the four women to first represent the Bahamas in an international sports competition.[3]
North earned a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1966 from University of Newcastle upon Tyne and a postgraduate certificate in Education from the University of Leicester in 1967.[1] She taught history at Government High for two years.[1]
North married Winston Saunders in 1968.[1][6] The couple relocated to England for further schooling.[1] She studied at University College London and worked at the British Council in Public Record Offices to study process for archiving.[1] When they moved back to the Bahamas in 1969, Winston took a position as deputy headmaster at Highbury High School.[1]
Upon returning to the Bahamas, North-Saunders took a position at the library in the Ministry of Education where she organized the records of the old Board of Education to make the first deposit in the National Archives.[1]
Saunders studied under historian Michael Craton at the University of Waterloo to earn a doctorate.[1]
The Ministry of Education asked North-Saunders to establish the Bahamian National Archives.[1] The archives were held at the Eastern Public Library (the Eastern Post Office) for 16 years.[1] North-Saunders was the director from 1971 until 2004 and director-general of the archives until her retirement in 2008.[1]
Saunders was president of the Association of Caribbean Historians; president of the Caribbean Archives Association and an executive member of the International Council on Archives.[3]
Saunders authored books about Bahamian history including Historic Bahamas,[3] Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People (Volume 1 and 2) with Michael Craton,[4] and Race and Class in the Colonial Bahamas, 1880–1960.[5]
After retirement from the National Archives, Saunders remained active in academic pursuits as Scholar-in-residence at the College of The Bahamas.[1] In 2006, her husband, Winston Saunders, died.[6]
North-Saunders died on 30 June 2023, at the age of 79.[7]