Mrs. Judith Opoku-Boateng, Archivist at the Institute of African Studies has presented a lecture on “The Roles of Archives in Nation Building, 70 years of University of Ghana’s Role in Unifying Cultures”, as part of activities organized by the Department of Information Studies to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the University of Ghana.

Dr. Emmanuel Adjei giving the welcome address

Mrs. Opoku-Boateng, who is a former student of the Department of Information Studies, explained that archives are places where public records or historical materials (such as documents) are preserved for several useful purposes.  The J. H. Nketiah Archives have a general stock of over twenty thousand (20,000) materials which includes manuscripts, working papers, ephemeral collections, funeral brochures, video and audio files.

The audience was entertained by Mr. Osei Kwame Korankye, a Seprewa Instructor at the Institute of African Studies

Emeritus Professor J. H. Kwabena Nketiah

Mrs. Judith Opoku-Boateng

Mrs. Opoku-Boateng detailed developments over the years at the J.H. Nketiah Archives, including its journey from analogue to digital archives, and implications for teaching, learning and research at the University. She also spoke about strategies to make the Archives richer. She invited the University community and the general public to approach officials of the Archives if they have any information such as historic videos, photographs or publications they would like to preserve.

As part of her presentation, Mrs. Opoku-Boateng displayed collections of photographs and videos of various events that have been gathered and stored at the Archives. The collections include enstoolment and enskinment of traditional rulers, cultural dances and historic events that have been recorded and are being preserved at the J.H. Nketiah archives. She also showed a recording of the inauguration of the University College of the Gold Coast, on August 11, 1948.

Mrs. Opoku-Boateng emphasized the importance of Ghanaians and other Africans preserving their own culture and artifacts, rather than entrusting them to others, stressing ‘Tete wᴐ bi ka’ (the past has something in store for the future). Information concerning projects being undertaken by the J.H. Nketiah archives can be found online at www.apexghana.org
   

Question and answer time

Dr. Emmanuel Adjei, Head of Department of Information Studies, delivered the welcome address. The chairperson for the lecture was Mr. Romeo Bugyei, the Chief Executive Officer of IT Consortium and a member of the School Management Committee of the School of Information and Communication Studies. In his closing remarks, Mr. Bugyei lauded the J.H. Nketiah Archives for doing a good job as custodian of very valuable information, and also congratulated Emeritus Professor J.H. Nketiah for his works and achievements in unifying and preserving Ghanaian cultures. He encouraged the J.H. Nketiah Archives to keep abreast with developments in IT in order to find the best ways of preserving relevant material.

Mr. Romeo Bugyei

A cross section of the audience at the lecture