George Padmore Institute


The George Padmore Institute, founded in 1991 in Stroud Green Road, North London, by John La Rose and a group of political and cultural activists connected to New Beacon Books, is an archive, library, educational resource and research centre that houses "materials relating to the black community of Caribbean, African and Asian descent in Britain and continental Europe". The Institute also hosts talks and readings, as well as other educational and cultural activities.
The organisation is named in honour of Trinidad-born pan-Africanist George Padmore though does not house archive collections relating to him.
Since 2010 the GPI has received grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund to catalogue and interpret its collections and materials. Among other projects, the funding has enabled the GPI to open up to public access the archives of founding chair John La Rose through The Dream to Change the World Project. The exhibition Dream to Change the World: The Life & Legacy of John La Rose was mounted at Islington Museum from 22 May to 29 August 2015, with a number of associated public events and workshops for schools taking place during the course of the exhibition.

Archives held

The archives in the care of the GPI include the following:
The ground floor of the GPI building is occupied by the New Beacon Bookshop.