The Igbo Knowledge Collection

Over several years, Okpara House has quietly assembled a carefully curated collection of books documenting Igbo history, culture, institutions and ways of life. Many are rare or out of print, sourced from around the world through auction houses, antiquarian booksellers and rare-book dealers.

The collection has a particular interest in works produced when many indigenous institutions, traditions and social practices remained intact and had not yet been significantly transformed by Western influence. Together with important contemporary works, these records form part of a larger effort to recover the breadth of our story.

Many people outside academia who wish to rediscover their culture simply do not know where to look. Rarity and cost also place much of this material beyond the reach of the communities whose histories it documents.

Our aim is to preserve these works while developing thoughtful, responsible and secure ways of making the knowledge they contain more accessible. Public access will follow the necessary work of cataloguing, preservation, rights review and the design of an appropriate framework for use.

Cultural recovery requires informed communities. Access to this record can deepen understanding, restore confidence and ground inquiry and dialogue in evidence that has too often lived beyond our reach. The collection is currently assembled and privately funded by Okpara House founder Obiora Nwazota.