This archive consists of annual reports (1926-1938, 1941, 1947-1956, 1959, 1961, 1963-5); agendas and resolutions of Annual Meetings (1948-1963); memoranda (1929-1957); printed leaflets and pamphlets (1926-c.1947)

Abbreviations used include:

Cmd - Command Paper;

ILO - International Labour Organisation (United Nations);

ODC - Open Door Council;

ODI - Open Door International;

UNESCO - United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

The archive consists of minutes and papers of the Executive Committee, the Advisory Committee, the Employment Committee and the Annual General Meeting; annual reports and reports of the Women's service Bureau; Financial Committee minutes, papers and accounts; Advisory Department agendas and reports; correspondence; circular letters.

Papers concerning the personal archive of Anna Coote (1954-1983), including: notes about a reappraisal of a case of a woman's dismissal from work and the industrial tribunal hearing; the labour situation; papers concerning various cases of dismissial of female employees from various employers, including testimonials; articles on a range of topics, including industry and the law, women at work, outside work schemes, the duties of a Personnel Officer; transcripts of interviews with various secretaries and employers, as well as letters describing personal experience of being a secretary; and typescripts of chapters from a proposed book on secretaries (1954-975). Also included are government publications and documents that relate to the personal archives (1971-1983), including: material relating to a decision of industrial tribunals and court cases; documents relating to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975; copies of parliamentary debates on the Sex Equality Bill, 1983; Social Security Pensions Act 1975; second review of the Race Relations Act 1976; documents relating to the Abortion Act 1967, and the Abortion (Amendment) Bill 1975; "How M.P.s vote on abortion"; Abortion, 1976; Domicile and Matrimonial Proceedings Bill; Matrimonial Causes Act 1973; Equal Pay Act 1970; Anti-Discrimination Bill 1971; Employment Protection Bill 1975; Children Bill 1975; report on the circumstances of families 1967; survey of women's employment 1968; proposals for a tax-credit system, 1972; proposals for a new pensions scheme 1974; government proposals on employment and training, 1973; equality for women, 1974; the select committee on violence in marriage, 1975; select committee on the Anti-Discrimination (No 2) Bill, 1972-1973; sixth report from the expenditure committee on the employment of women, 1972-1973; and the report of the committee on one-parent families, 1974.

This archive consists of minutes of board meetings (1947-1973), reports and conference resolutions (1929-1966), conference papers (1952-1957), constitutions and charters (1929-1970), correspondence files of president and honorary secretary (1947-1974); incomplete series of the publication Open Door (1929-1938), circular letters (1949-1959), leaflets and pamphlets (1929-1964), headed stationery, reports and publications of other organisations including United Nations commissions and International Labour Organisation. Most of the papers originate from the organisation's Honorary Secretaries.

The archive consists of minutes of the Executive Committee (1935-1937, 1939-1980), Annual General Meeting papers and reports (1931-1979), papers and correspondence files of the treasurer, honorary secretaries, chairs and vice-chairs (1932-1977), papers of the Hampshire (1964-7) and Northwest (1973-7) Branches, administration papers including publicity material, financial items and correspondence regarding the dissolution of the group, correspondence, printed materials and papers related to various campaigns (1937-1976), weekend conference materials (1948-65) and meetings papers (1943-1979), leaflets of and correspondence with other organisations (1938-1979), newsletters and circulars (1941-1979), issues of Time and Tide (1921-1929) and press cuttings (1920s-1970s), correspondence of the Honorary Secretary (1950-1981)

Typescript of unpublished autobiography of Dorothy Elliott, Women in Search of Justice, written c1969; concerning her career in the trade union movement, 1916-1959; including account of munitions work during World War One and her work as organiser for the National Federation of Women Workers at Woolwich Arsenal, 1916-1918; her work for the General and Municipal Workers Union, 1921-1945, particularly as Chief Women's Officer and her work as Chairman of the National Institute of Home Workers, 1946-1959.