Stories and facts

Established by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the Republic of Ghana on June 30, 1961, this public library in the suburb of Osu serves as both a repository for Padmore's archive and a growing African studies library collection.

The George Padmore Research Library plays a significant role in Ghana. It publishes the Ghana National Videography and issues international standard serial and book numbers and music numbers (ISBN/ ISSN/ ISMN). The library's digitized materials are accessible through the Ghana Library application, providing widespread access to its resources.

As Ghana's primary deposit library, the George Padmore Library houses extensive archives on cultural, educational, and political campaign groups. Its collection includes journals, newspapers, books, pamphlets, and publications by social and anti-racist organizations from the 1960s to the 1990s. Notable collections focus on Caribbean artists, black education and supplementary schools, the New Cross Massacre Campaign, and the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books. These resources make the library a hub for researchers, scholars, and students interested in African history, sociology, anthropology, and more.

George Padmore, born in Trinidad, was a dedicated Pan-Africanist and anti-colonialist whose influential work played a crucial role in 20th-century independence struggles across Africa and the African diaspora. The George Padmore Library stands as a tribute to Padmore's intellectual project, which aimed to highlight the shared heritage and struggles of Africans and people of African descent in the Atlantic world.