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Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Ghana: Political Parties Material

IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0101 PP.GH

Held at: Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Title: Ghana: Political Parties Material

Date(s): 1950-

Level of description: Collection (Fonds)

Extent: 3 boxes

Name of creator(s): Institute of Commonwealth Studies

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

After a ten year political campaign by the Convention Peoples' Party (CPP) the Gold Coast became independent Ghana on the 6th March 1957, the first of Britain's African colonies to make this transition. Its first Prime Minister and dominant political figure Dr. Kwame Nkrumah led it through independence to become a republic and a one-party state, and was also a prime mover in the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAS). His removal in a 1966 coup ushered in a period of characterised by military interventions in government, which may have ended with the election of John Kufuor in 2000. He was the first elected president to succed another elected president. The material here dates from the independence movement onwards, and is of particular interest with regard to Nkrumah's socialism, his pan-Africanist orientation and the arguments over his legacy following his death in 1972.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Manifestos, speeches, posters, constitutions, leaflets, newspapers, convention reports and miscellaneous election materials issued by the Action Congress Party (Ghana), the Convention People's Party (Ghana), the Ghana Congress Party, the National Alliance of Liberals (Ghana), the National Conciliation Party (Ghana), the National Liberation Movement (Ghana), the New Patriotic Party (Ghana), the Northern People's Party (Ghana), the People's Democratic Party of Ghana, the People's National Party (Ghana), the People's Vanguard (Ghana), the Popular Front Party (Ghana), the Progress Party (Ghana), the Third Force Party (Ghana), the United Gold Coast Convention, the United National Convention (Ghana), the United Party (Ghana) and the United Revolutionary Front (Ghana).

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Alphabetically by party, and then in rough chronological order.

Conditions governing access:

Open to all for research purposes; access is free for anyone in higher education.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can usually be obtained - apply to library staff.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Records at item level on library catalogue (SASCAT)

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Further accruals are expected, some in electronic form.

Archival history:

The ICS political parties collection was begun in 1960-1961, with special emphasis being placed on primary material such as party constitutions, policy statements, convention reports and election manifestos. Since then, the main method of gathering material has been to appeal directly to political parties throughout the Commonwealth, though contributions from Institute members and staff following visits to relevant countries have been significant. More recently material has been collected by means of downloading documents from the websites of the major parties.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Institute of Commonwealth Studies

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

See also Ghana: Trades Unions Material (TU.GH) and Ghana: Pressure Groups Material (PG.GH), as well as Political Party, Trades Unions and Pressure Group Materials for other Commonwealth countries and related material in the library's main classified sequence, all held at the ICS.

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

The Political Archives Project was a 2.5 year project to catalogue political archive material held in the libraries of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and the Institute for the Study of the Americas to the University and present it as a cohesive virtual collection. The project was successfully completed in July 2005. Descriptions of all the documents may be found by searching the library catalogue at http://catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/, or via the Political Archives website: http://polarch.sas.ac.uk

Archivist's note: Description compiled by Daniel Millum, Political Archives Project Officer at the Institutes of Commonwealth and Latin American Studies.