Keeping the Record Alive: KU Libraries Supports Preservation at Ghana’s Nketia Archives

In the early 1950s, long before digital recorders or portable audio kits, J. H. Kwabena Nketia carried a reel-to-reel tape machine into villages across Ghana to document songs, festivals, oral histories, and performance traditions that had rarely been preserved in recorded form. A composer, scholar, and educator, Nketia went on to become one of the most influential figures in African ethnomusicology. His landmark 1974 book The Music of Africa helped establish the field for generations of scholars and students. 

Over the decades, Nketia and his colleagues created an extraordinary record of Ghanaian and West African cultural life. Many of the traditions they documented have since transformed or disappeared. Today, those recordings form the “crown jewels” of the J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives at the University of Ghana’s Institute of African Studies and serve as a vital resource for the study of music, dance, storytelling, and performance across the region.

Nketia’s influence extended worldwide through teaching and residencies at leading institutions. In the spring of 1992, he served as the Langston Hughes Professor of African and African-American Studies at the University of Kansas, establishing a connection that KU Libraries is now actively advancing.

A Living Archive at Risk

Today, the Nketia Archives hold an extraordinary range of materials: original field recordings from the 1950s, commercial highlife releases, educational documentaries, and thousands of rare photographs. Together, they preserve cultural traditions once transmitted primarily through oral and embodied practice. These recordings allow new generations to encounter forms that have since evolved—or, in some cases, disappeared. Yet they are also fragile and increasingly at risk.

Much of the collection was captured on magnetic formats—reel-to-reel tape, audio cassettes, and professional video standards such as VHS, U-matic, and Betacam—now decades old and highly vulnerable in Ghana’s hot, humid climate. Magnetic tape is especially susceptible to mold and binder degradation, which can render it unsafe to play and difficult to digitize without specialized equipment. Preservation involves more than careful storage. Aging media must be stabilized so it can be safely digitized and accessed in the future. When magnetic tape deteriorates beyond recovery, the loss is permanent.

Stabilizing the Tapes

To help address this challenge, KU Libraries—through the Institute for Globally Engaged Librarianship (IGEL)—coordinated the purchase and delivery of a “VHS is Life” mold-cleaning machine for the Nketia Archives. The device safely cleans contaminated tapes, stabilizing them for playback and digitization. While not a complete preservation solution, it addresses a critical gap, allowing archivists to treat mold-affected tapes more efficiently and extend the life of vulnerable recordings.

Andrew Hansbrough, audiovisual preservation specialist at KU’s Kenneth Spencer Research Library, managed the technical preparation of the machine. Before shipping it to Accra, he tested the unit and assembled a comprehensive kit—including spindles for various tape formats, cleaning pads, air filters, desktop vacuums, and backup power adapters—to ensure it could be put to immediate use.

“Many archivists are aware of the crisis facing magnetic media and are searching for practical, affordable ways to intervene before it’s too late,” Hansbrough noted. “Versatile tools like this can make a real difference.”

The package’s arrival in Accra in February 2026 was met with enthusiasm.

George Gyesaw, Digital Archivist at the Nketia Archives, emphasized its importance: 

“The VHS cleaning machine is the most needed piece of equipment at the Nketia Archives right now, and its arrival immediately breaks a key bottleneck in our digitization efforts. This gift completes our essential setup, and we are thrilled.”

Judith Opoku Boateng, University Archivist at the University of Ghana, described the shipment as extraordinary after reviewing its contents:

“The materials address a long-standing need for our analogue video collections and will benefit not only the Nketia Archives, but other archives in the community facing similar preservation challenges.”

Collaboration in Practice

The project was coordinated by Hansbrough and Brian Rosenblum, Director of IGEL, in close consultation with Gyesaw and the archival team in Accra to ensure the equipment met specific local needs. For IGEL, the effort reflects an approach to international collaboration grounded in local expertise and shared priorities rather than one-time, top-down interventions.

The initiative builds on a growing relationship between KU Libraries and the University of Ghana. Over the past five years, this collaboration has included work in digital humanities, open access journal publishing, and professional exchanges, connecting colleagues in Kansas and Accra through ongoing, practical work. 

“We’re grateful for the opportunity to support this work,” Rosenblum said. “Our contribution is modest in scale but meaningful in intent, and we hope it provides practical help in keeping these historically significant recording accessible to the communities who rely on them.”

While Professor Nketia’s time in Lawrence in 1992 was brief, it established a connection that has now taken tangible form. Through collaboration with the archives that bear his name, KU Libraries is helping ensure that these recordings remain available for research, teaching, and performance in Ghana and beyond.