Stamps and national identity

Harcourt Fuller (above) is a PhD Research Student at the London School of Economics. He is researching ways in which post-independence Ghana created its own identity, distinct from its colonial past.

The official iconography of postage stamps and currency have provided a fruitful avenue of research, showing ways in which the emerging nation pictured itself. He was guided to the material by the Library’s specialist curators who have, Harcourt says, ‘tremendous philatelic and historical knowledge’.

Harcourt’s research demonstrates how the scope of the Library’s Commonwealth collection enables researchers to access defining moments in the histories of nations. Our resources allow important
stories from our collective past to be told.