GLAM/Newsletter/April 2026/Contents/Nigeria report
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Wikimedia Commons Upload Campaign
Preserving Nigerian Heritage, One Cropped Image at a Time
Within the digitised pages of some Nigerian public-domain newspapers lies a visual archive comprising hand-drawn illustrations, period advertisements, and historical photographs that document the everyday lives of Nigerians across decades of Nigerian history.
The Free Knowledge Africa's Commons Upload campaign brought together 51 volunteers who supported our belief that African heritage belongs on the world stage, freely accessible to researchers, educators and curious minds everywhere. This Campaign was painstaking, but purposeful, as we carefully cropped out individual images from previously digitised Nigerian newspapers and uploaded them to Wikimedia Commons as standalone files. This campaign resulted in over 2,000 new images now part of the global open knowledge commons.
Some of the Interesting images found within the pages of these historical newspapers
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A 1954 Advertisement of Mentholatum -
An Advertisement for Broadway Chemist -
A 1948 Cinema schedule -
A 1948 Badge Competition for the Nigerian Youth Movement
These illustrations give us a peek into the everyday life of the average Nigerian in the 1950s. This campaign also underscores that digitisation alone does not make cultural heritage discoverable. Historical illustrations and images buried inside these newspaper scans remain invisible to anyone who isn't already looking for them. By extracting these images, we have transformed raw digitised data into usable, shareable stories and resources, increasing the visibility of these visual heritage on Wikimedia platforms.
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