The Cavendish-Bentinck Library contains many pre-1850 books, pamphlets and periodicals. There are many seventeenth and eighteenth century classic publications, such as Richard Brathwaite's The English gentlewoman: drawne out to the full body and Look ere you leap: or, A history of the lives and intrigues of leud women; first editions of publications by Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, the Brontes, Fanny Burney, Maria Edgeworth, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf and many others. The periodical holdings include The Lady's magazine 1760-1839 and The Englishwoman's domestic magazine 1852-1879. Cookery and household management books include Hannah Wolley's The Queen-like closet, 1675, and Mrs Beeton's Book of household management, 1861. The collection is also strong on material relating to the suffrage campaigns, including many rare pamphlets. Newly acquired material was added to the collection until the 1950s - hence this collection houses most of the The Women's Library's printed holdings dating from 1600 to 1850. The Cavendish-Bentinck collection is catalogued on The Women's Library's online catalogue and volumes can be ordered by completing a Collections order slip and consulted in the Reading Room. Due to the age and fragility of most of the material in the Cavendish-Bentinck collection no photocopying is permitted.

The archive consists of Domestic Science notes consisting of: housewifery notes (1912), including cut-out and pasted-in examples of household equipment with prices; and examination paper for diploma candidates on the theory of housewifery in Jul 1912; cookery theory notes (1910); and a notebook of laundry demonstration notes (1911); and biographical notes (1993) prepared by the depositor. Detailed descriptions for selected items within the notebooks are also given.

Papers of Brenda Francis, 1930s-1980s, comprising a large collection of photographs of domestic science, home economics, needlework, cookery, child care and homecraft teaching in London schools, possibly compiled as a reference collection intended for the use of teachers; minutes, circulated papers and reports of the United Kingdom Federation for Education in Home Management, 1954-1962; some printed material about home economics education.

Photographs: Large collection of photographs of domestic science, home economics, needlework, cookery, child care and homecraft teaching in London schools and other educational institutions such as open-air schools and teachers centres from the 1930s to the 1980s, possibly compiled as a reference collection intended for the use of teachers;

Publications: Printed material about home economics education, including works published by the ILEA, booklets published by the International Federation of Home Economics, relating to the 10th and 12th international congresses, regulations on teaching domestic education in 19th and 20th century, a publication of the Administration of Home Economics Education in Finland, a reference pack for teachers of pupils of ESN(s) [Severely educationally sub-normal] schools, and a work published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.;

Minutes and Papers: Relating to the meetings, activities and correspondence of the United Kingdom Federation for Education in Home Management.

The archive consists of:

• Questionnaires (1948-1950), pamphlets, articles and press cuttings related to 'Graduate Wives' (1953-1955);

• Scrapbook of reviews of 'Wives Who Went to College' (1957-1958);

• Letters of provenance from donor (1997).

The archive consists of Minutes of the Executive Committee (1952-1959, 1969) and Annual General Meeting (1957-1964, 1967), Chairperson's reports (1953, 1956-9), papers related to the formation of the Council of Married Women, correspondence files including papers and press cuttings (1944-1970), Bills, Acts and Parliamentary file (1956-1971) and file of evidence to the Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce (1952-1956), financial papers (1961-1969) and publications including the Bulletin.

The archive consists of 4 letters from the Sunday Pictorial and a diploma signed by Lord Woolton, dated 1 Nov 1941, all re wartime rationing. Also typescript of Mrs Fyffe's account of a week's routine in feeding her household of two adults and five children, with a summary of housekeeping expenditure for a week in Sep 1941, and details of each day's meals during that week.

The catalogued Pamphlet Collection comprises over 12,000 titles dating from approximately 1830 to the present. The Pamphlet Collection consists of printed material less than 60 pages in length and includes government policies, reports, annual reports and campaigning material, primary law, including Bills and Acts. The subject material of the collection reflects and enriches the wide range of topics held elsewhere in the Women's Library.The topics covered include: English fiction, children's stories, poetry, women's organisations, feminism, role of women in society - UK and abroad, nursing, sex discrimination law, divorce law, employment, occupations, careers, equal opportunities, labour law, pension law, social security, taxation, housing, health, pregnancy, abortion, birth control, domestic violence, mothers, one-parent families, children, family life, housekeeping, religion, ordination, arts, costume, suffrage. Organisations include Equal Opportunities Commission, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, National Union of Suffragettes, National Society for Women's Suffrage, US Women's Bureau, American National Red Cross, Union of Jewish Women, National Union of Townswomen's Guilds, National Federation of Women's Institutes, Fawcett Society, National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child, British Federation of University Women, Association of University Women Teachers, Divorce Law Reform Union. Most of the material is in English, but there are also pamphlets in other languages, such as Italian, German and French.The pamphlets are arranged in two sections - one for standard sized pamphlets and one for oversized pamphlets.

The 'UDC Pamphlet Collection' [Universal Dewey Decimal Classification]: In addition to the main Pamphlet Collection is the 'UDC Pamphlet Collection.' The UDC collection was the first pamphlet collection created by the Library and consists of approximately 10,000 pamphlets dating from mid nineteenth to mid twentieth centuries, covering all subjects. As the collection was gradually acquired during the Library's first 20 years of life, it was arranged by subject, using the Universal Decimal Classification system. The pamphlets were primarily deposited by organisations and individuals, although some purchases were made. There is a finding aid kept with the collection but the collection was never catalogued and therefore remained a hidden resource within the Library for more than 80 years. Unsurprisingly other libraries did not collect most of these pamphlets. In 2007 as part of a cataloguing funding bid preliminary sampling of the collection against Copac (the merged online catalogues of 24 university research libraries in the UK, plus the British Library and the National Library of Scotland) found that over 60% of the UDC pamphlets were not listed in these major research collections. This is a very significant level of unique printed material.Cataloguing of the UDC collection started in 2007 and as the pamphlets are catatogued, they are transferred to the main pamphlet collection described above. As at 2009 the collection was partially catalogued and The Library was seeking additional funds to complete the project.