Ghanaian exhibits research into influential roles of women in land business in 1800s, 1900s

A Ghanaian researcher, Bright Botwe, has detailed a narrative into the history and cultural heritage of colonial Ghana pertaining to land.

His research, translated into an exhibition, highlights the influential roles of women in land business in the 1800s and 1900s in Ghana.

The grant holder of the British Library Endangered Archives Programme detailed the enduring value of the recorded deed instruments housed at the Deeds Registry under the Lands Commission.

The records, currently on display at the National Museum of Ghana, explores the history and archives of Lands in Ghana.

Titled “Registered Lands, A Significant Heritage,” the exhibition is being organized by Needmet International LBG, a company borne out of love for humanity and the enduring value of Ghana’s heritage.

It focuses on the provenance and permanent preservation of the intrinsic holdings of Colonial Ghana land records.

The Exhibition forms part of project “EAP1426 Cataloguing and Digitizing Deed Instruments to Aid Land Administration” funded by the British Library Endangered Archives Programme.

The exhibits also seek to teleport its audience into the colonial era of land acquisition from the three (3) provinces and territories of the then Gold Coast Colony.

“The exhibits highlight the role of women in land business from the 1800’s to the 1900’s with particular emphasis on the transactions recorded during these periods.

“The archives unfurl the contrast between the colonial era of land acquisition and development and ‘independent Ghana’s’ perspective through the lens of Governor Guggisberg and President Kwame Nkrumah,” a statement on the inaugural exhibition stated.

Speaking in an interview after participating in the exhibition on Day One, one of the visitors expressed his excitement at this project.

He explained that he finds this exhibition as educative and relevant to the current times.

He also explained that this project is even more relevant because of the poor archival system that exists in Ghana.

"I find this exhibition very educating because it's coming from the Deeds Registry of the Lands Commission and the Deeds Registry basically houses land transactions, the leasing of houses, the sale of houses, the sale of lands that goes all the way back to the 1840s, even before British rule.

"My friend Bright Botwe has really done a great job by getting some funds to help digitise some of these endangered archives. I’ve used part of this in my own book project I am working on and it’s a good thing.

"This is because as a nation, archives are basically our memories and when we don’t take care of our archives then we are going to be a nation without memory. Already we have a bad culture of record keeping," he said.

The visitor also recalled how the archival of documents helped Ghana very recently when it had a case with Côte d'Ivoire.

He stressed that it was mainly because of the documents available to Ghana that gave it success over its neighbouring country.

"If you could remember, when Ghana and the Ivory Coast were in conflict over the Cape 3 Point and the case was sent for an international arbitration and Ghana won because we had the documents to prove that when the British and the French were partitioning the border between the British Colony at the time and Ivory Coast, this was how it was done. So, imagine if we didn’t have those files, we would have lost territory in the sea and we would be able to claim ownership of the oil wells over there," he added.

About Needmet International LBG

Needmet International is a vision borne out of our love for humanity and the enduring value of our heritage. It is a Limited by Guarantee Company registered under the Companies Acts 2019 (Act 992) as a Foundation. It aims to ‘consolidate, promote and salvage collections of historic and cultural heritage.

Needmet International LBG is the host institution for this British Library awarded project on the Endangered Archives Programme (EAP).

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AE