In 1879 the Island Records Office was not geared to assume its full archival responsibilities and no action was taken to collect the non-current records of the government. In 1936 the authorities transferred the historical records of the law courts to the Island Record Office, but as no action was being taken to organize them, they were in 1940 passed to the custody of the Institute of Jamaica, although they remained in Spanish Town. As a member of staff of the Institute of Jamaica, Mr Black became the Institute Archivist worked on these records which formed the nucleus of the ‘Colonial Archives'.

As a result of an initiative of the Institute, Sir Hilary Jenkinson, the then head of the Public Record Office, London visited Jamaica in 1950 to advise on the care of these records.. In his subsequent report he recommended the appointment of an Archives Committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice as Keeper of the Records to plan for the establishment of an archival institution under the 1879 Records Law and the appointment of a government archivist. In 1953 the Archives Committee was appointed and plans began to be made to fully implement the 1879 Law.