Using the Collection
Digitized items in the Willis E. Bell Photographic Print Archive can be accessed through the UCLA Library Digital Collections platform. The archive is digitized as part of the Modern Endangered Archives Program, which aims to digitize and make accessible endangered archival materials from the 20th and 21st centuries, including print, photographic, film, audio, ephemeral and born-digital objects.
More Information
About the Archive and Project
The Willis E. Bell Photographic Print Archive contains over 48,500 original photographic negatives and prints by American photographer Willis E. Bell, who documented vernacular and political life in Ghana, West Africa, during the post-colonial period (1957-1978). Unique for its remarkable scope, the archive documents an important period in Ghanaian history, representing political figures and events, processes of industrialization and ceremonial and daily life in communities throughout Ghana following independence.
Host Institution: Mmofra Foundation
The Willis E. Bell Archive is held at the Mmofra Foundation(opens in a new tab) in Accra, Ghana, which worked to preserve this extraordinary heritage resource and improve its accessibility through publication in the Modern Endangered Archives Program's (MEAP) open-access repository.
