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The archive consists of:

• Material relating to Women's Weekend in Ruskin College, Oxford, 27 Feb-1 Mar 1970

• Papers relating to the London Feminist History Group

• Papers relating to women's libraries / archives and information centres

• Women's Liberation Movement in Italy

• Ephemera.

Over 3,000 periodical titles are held dating from 1745, some in single issues, but many in complete or representative runs. The Periodicals Collection brings together academic, popular and campaigning women's journals in one location and gives a unique insight into periodicals published about, for and by women. Titles range from commercially-produced popular magazines (Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan), to academic quarterlies (Gender and History, Feminist Review), organisational journals (One Parent Families, National Association of Women Pharmacists), special interest publications (Executive Black Woman), and older titles such as the English Woman's Journal. Many of these titles are not held in other research collections. The non-commercial nature of many of these periodicals with limited self-published print runs, resulted in periodicals that were issued irregularly, on poor quality paper and often only selectively deposited with the main copyright libraries.

COMMERCIALLY PUBLISHED

The Library's collection of commercially published magazines, a key resource for research into social history and popular culture, begins with the Ladies' Almanack of the 1740s and documents women's fashion and domestic concerns from runs of the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, The Queen, Ladies' Magazine, Ladies Monthly Magazine and Lady, Gentlewoman, in the 19th century; Home Chat, Woman's Weekly, Woman, Woman's Own, Honey,, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire in the 20th century; Grazia, Glamour and Easy Living of more recent years. Also included are some magazines aimed at girls and young women such as The Girls' Own Paper, Petticoat, Just 17 and Jackie.

FEMINIST AND CAMPAIGNING

At the heart of the Periodical Collection are the women's campaigning journals and feminist periodicals. The collection of feminist periodicals at The Women's Library is unrivalled in its extent and breadth. It begins with the English Woman's Journal of the mid-19th century, and continues with titles such as The Young Women and includes complete runs of titles such as The Women's Penny Paper, the Woman's Herald, Victoria Magazine, the Woman's Signal, the Woman's Leader, Englishwoman's Review, Englishwoman, Freewoman, Time and Tide, Woman's Gazette, and Shafts all of which were key to the development of feminist theory and progressive ideas.

SUFFRAGE

The Library's extensive collection of suffrage periodicals is central to the study of women's rights in the 20th century, titles including Votes for Women, Common Cause, Woman's Dreadnought, The Vote, the Women's Suffrage Journal, Women's Franchise, the Suffragette Newssheet, the Independent Suffragette, Britannia, and the Suffragette as well as titles such as the Anti-Suffrage Review.

WOMEN'S LIBERATION MOVEMENT

The collection of journals documenting 'second-wave' feminism in the UK includes complete runs of titles such as Spare Rib and Trouble and Strife and near complete runs of other liberation titles such as Red Rag, Shrew, WIRES, Outwrite and the London Women's Liberation Newsletter. Regional involvement was an integral part of the movement and this is charted through a number of regional titles including Brighton and Hove Women's Liberation Group, Edinburgh Women's Liberation newsletter, Leeds Women's Liberation newsletter, Leicester Women's Liberation newsletter, Manchester Women's Liberation newsletter and Norwich Women's Centre newsletter.

CONTEMPORARY FEMINISTS

The periodical holdings continue to document the development of contemporary feminism, sometimes referred to as 'third wave', with titles including Verve and Subtext. Additional contemporary feminist publications can be found within our 'zine' collection (dating from 2002).

WOMEN'S ORGANISATIONS

Periodicals created by women's organisations, networks and campaigns. These can include weekly or monthly newsletters and magazines aimed at members, quarterly and annual journals aimed at members and a wider academic audience, and annual reports aimed at a wider audience. Given the short life of many campaigning organisations, their newsletters and bulletins often provide the main record of their activities. Few of these publications are held elsewhere, and they are only selectively deposited with national collections, organisations include: the Fawcett Society, National Council of Women, The National Federation of Women's Institutes (Home and Country), Townswomen's Guilds (The Townswoman), UK Federation of Business and Professional Women, Girls' Friendly Society, Executive Black Woman, Catholic Citizen and National Association of Women Pharmacists document women's efforts to come together to improve the quality of their lives.

SPECIALIST INTEREST

Whilst retaining the collecting focus of women's lives in the UK, there are a number of subject specialist interest areas including:

• The Arts - titles such as Feminist Arts News, Heresies: a feminist publication on art and politics, n.paradoxa: international feminist art journal, Vogue and Women's Art Magazine.

• Domestic Violence - titles such as Rights of Women Bulletin, Violence Against Women: an international interdisciplinary journal and Women at War: preventing gun violence, WAVAV - Women Against Violence Against Women.

• Education - titles such as Gender and Education, The Woman Teacher, Gen: an anti-Sexist Education Journal, British Federation of University Women, and The Parents' Review.

• Employment - titles such as Work and Leisure, Women's Union Journal, Labour Woman, Women's Trade Union Review, Equality Now: magazine of the Equal Opportunities Commission, Executive Woman, the Woman Worker, The Woman Engineer: journal of the Woman's Engineering Society and Double shift: working women's newsletter.

• Family and the home - titles such as Women's Weekly, Woman's Own, Family Planning Today and New Home economics.

• Feminist Theory - titles such as Feminist Studies, Feminist Economics, Feminist Theory, and the International Journal of Feminist Studies.

• Health - titles such as Women and Health, Top Sante, London Black Women's Health Action project newsletter and Mental Health.

• Law - titles such as ALRA newsletter: Campaigning for a Woman's Right to Choose on Abortion, Family Law, Individualist: monthly journal of personal rights, Lesbian Employment Rights, and Rights of Women Bulletin, National Abortion Campaign.

• Literature - titles such as Mslexia, Silver Moon Quarterly and Writing Women.

• Media - titles such as Feminist Media Studies, The Woman Journalist and Women's Media Action Bulletin.

• Medicine - titles such as Women in Medicine: newsletter of the Medical Women's Federation and National Association of Women Pharmacists newsletter.

• Motherhood - titles such as Home and Family: journal of the Mother's Union, Journal of Marriage and Family, Maternity Alliance, Gingerbread, One Parent Families, World Congress of Mothers News and Information.

• Sexuality - titles such as Sappho, Sex Roles: a journal of research, Journal of the history of sexuality, Chroma, Diva, Arena Three and Dykelife.

• Women and peace - titles such as Woman today, Greenham Newsletter, Peace and Freedom News: journal of the British Section of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Sellafield Women's Peace Camp Newsletter, Women for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Newsletter and WoMenwith Hill: Women's Peace Camp Newsletter.

• Politics - titles such as Equal Opportunities International, Gender and Society and the NAWO e-bulletin (National Alliance of Women's Organisations).

• Prostitution - titles such as The Shield: to promote the repeal of Contagious Diseases Act, Network: news from the English Collective of Prostitutes and WHISPER: Women hurt in systems of prostitution engaged in revolt.

• Ethnicity - titles such as Pride, Race Today and Manushi.

• Religion - titles such as Church Militant, Jewish Women's Review, Catholic Citizen, Newsheet/Women Living Under Muslim Laws International Solidarity Network, and Movement for the Ordination of Women.

• Science and Technology are The Woman Engineer, Science for People, Women Chemists Newsletter and Forum: Journal of the Association for Women in Science and Engineering.

• Sport - titles such as Poise: the Health and beauty magazine, Ladies' Alpine Club, The Dyke: Lesbian Walkers' Magazine, Women in Sport: the Voice of Women's Sport and Outdoor Women.

As at Jan 2009, The Women's Library held approximately 562 badges in the Museum Collection, with c 200 additional badges identified in the archives.

The earliest badges held in The Women's Library were produced by women's suffrage campaigns, organisations represented include: the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, the Women's Social and Political Union, Women's Freedom League, and faith-based organisations such as the Catholic Women's Suffrage Society and the Jewish League for Women's Suffrage.

In addition, the collection contains women's liberation movement and contemporary badges dating from the 1970s to the present day. It includes a selection of badges produced by women's anti-nuclear and peace organisations, campaigns against male violence, pro-choice (abortion) organisations and lesbian support and campaigning groups.

A small number of modern women's campaigning jewellery items, such as earrings and pendants that are currently stored in this collection.

A large proportion of The Women's Library Photograph Collection is comprised of portraits of famous women and significant individuals in women's campaigning. There is also a range of photographs of the birthplaces, burial places and funerals of prominent women.

The main strength of the collection is in the group of photographs that represent suffrage campaigning. The images represent a wide range of activities such as suffrage arrests, elections, petitions, demonstrations, processions and exhibitions.

The work undertaken by women on the Home and Western fronts is recorded in a number of photographs taken during the First and Second World Wars.

There is a limited, but growing, range of photographs that document post-suffrage women's campaigning such as feminist work during the 1970s and 1980s, in the form of arrests and demonstrations. There are images relating to a few of the many 20th century women's organisations and their activities, such as conferences and debates.

A small number of photographs grouped by subject illustrate women's everyday experiences in areas such as sport and education.

Although focussing on the United Kingdom, the international nature of campaigning means that a number of international women or places are represented in this collection.

As at Jan 2009, The Women's Library held approximately 1050 posters in the Museum Collection, with c 100 posters identified in the archives.

The earliest posters held result from suffrage activities and can be divided into three main groups; advertisements for meetings and events, illustrated propaganda posters arguing why women should get the vote, and thirdly newspaper bills bearing suffrage related headlines, used to promote paper sales.

All other posters are arranged by subject and date from the 1970s to the present day. The collection represents a mixture of women's campaigning, campaigning by organisations to promote gender equality, and posters produced to advertise women-focused events and publications. There are a small number of posters that portray women's issues and campaign work internationally. The work of The Equal Opportunities Commission in England and Ireland is particularly well represented as a result of a large donation of their obsolete posters during the 1990s. Also well represented with almost 80 posters is the work of See Red Women's Workshop, a women's liberation screen-printing collective (1974-1984).

The archive consists of papers relating to the activities and members of See Red Women's Workshop, 1974-1984. It includes correspondence; notebooks containing minutes; press cuttings; poster catalogues and photographs showing members at work in the screen-print workshop.

The archive consists of correspondence, campaigning material, photographs, posters, postcards and badges. It mainly relates to the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, but also covers international peace campaigns. It includes the manuscript of a book on the menopause.

The archive consists of papers relating to Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp including articles by Jill Truman for the Bristol Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) newsletter and a typescript copy of a play by Jill Truman, 'The Web', with copy photographs and related publicity material.

The archive consists of:

• Women's Studies National Conference papers 1976

• Various papers from seminars and workshops on women's studies.

The archive consists of minutes, financial records, campaign files, policy files, press cuttings, petitions and correspondence, 1985-1997.

The archive consists of: 3 attendance books (one book includes accounts).

The archive consists of greetings cards, postcards and posters produced by Wildcat Cards; a selection of cards produced by women; slides, negatives, mock ups and proofs, photographs and some original artwork; advertisements and press releases, catalogues, order forms, price lists, artists briefs and press cuttings; correspondence, administrative and financial papers.

The archive consists of correspondence and draft for books, resource material, including Women's Liberation Movement papers, socialist periodicals and campaigning papers.

The archive consists of two parts.

Part 1 consists of records collated during Billington-Grieg's membership of a large number of international women's organisations, associated correspondence, drafts of papers presented at conferences, as well as publications received from the organisations. In addition there are papers related to her unpublished biography of Charlotte Despard.

Billington Grieg was a keen suffrage historian, and her historical writings on suffrage (as well as papers reflecting her own suffrage activism) are represented in her archive.

Subjects covered include: women's suffrage, post-suffrage campaign period, status of women, equal pay, women workers, women's education, war and peace, sex and prostitution, international women's activism.

Formats include: correspondence, drafts and notes of speeches and articles, photographs and printed material (press cuttings, newspapers, leaflets, pamphlets, journals and books).

Part 2 contains leaflets, circulars, election papers and reports of meetings of the Central Women's Electoral Committee established by the Women's Freedom League (1937-1939); papers of the Women's Freedom League itself including incomplete executive committee minutes (1937-1941), papers of conferences (1937, 1938, 1952, 1953, 1955), publications and circulars; files, publications, committee papers and other official papers of the Women for Westminster group and Teresa Billington Greig's notes and related correspondence (1938-1950); minutes, related correspondence and official papers of the Married Women's Association (1937-1961); publications of the Fawcett Society (1937-1961); publications, notices of meetings and agendas of the Women's Council (1948-1959); publications and papers of the Six Point Group (1959-1961); the Women's Publicity Planning Association (1942-1949); the International Alliance of Women (1946-1961); the British Commonwealth League (1947-1961), periodicals, invitations and news sheets (1950-1960); minutes, conference agendas, correspondence and papers of the National Women Citizen's Association (1939-1961); notes and quotations for articles, miscellaneous leaflets, pamphlets and government publications (1905-1961); notes and press cuttings related to the Commonwealth and the 'Third World' (1949-1961); and materials collected by Teresa Billington Greig for articles and a biography of Charlotte Despard including notes, a draft memoir and essays, list of interview questions and replies, pamphlets by Despard, correspondence and photographs.

The Women's Library continues to document the development of feminism in the UK, and examples of '3rd wave' activity can be found within our Zine Collection. The Zine Collection began with a donation of 50 zines by Ladyfest London in 2002. This Collection comprises self-published magazines reflecting contemporary feminism and the attitudes and concerns of young women in the UK today. It currently includes over 150 indexed zines on topics ranging from music, feminism, art, fashion, food, politics, sexuality, gender, ethnicity, popular culture, travelling, relationships, parenting and much more. The Women's Library aims to collect and preserve women's zines from the 1970s to the present day.

The Sadd Brown Library was founded in 1939 in memory of Myra Sadd Brown, and contains books and periodicals about, and often by, women of the Commonwealth. It covers colonial pioneers to modern day freedom fighters, as well as investigations of women's political and economic advancement and their positions in other societies and religions. For example it includes conference reports of the British Commonwealth League from 1925 to 1938 which vividly reveal the feminist concerns of pre-war generation, some issues having a contemporary resonance many decades later.The Library was the tribute of her suffrage colleagues to Myra Sadd Brown and it continues to grow with support from her family and the Commonwealth Countries League. The collection includes some late nineteenth century publications, such as Olive Schreiner's Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland, 1897, but most of the collection dates from the twentieth century. Some examples of books and periodicals in the Sadd Brown Library include The African child by Evelyn Sharp 1931, Women living under Muslim laws newsheet, Pakistan 1992-, Onions are my husband: survival and accumulation by West African market women by Gracia Clark, 1994 and Race relations news, South Africa 1947-1955.

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.

The 'archive' consisted of periodicals: Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp News' (1 issue, 1983); pamphlets (1982-1983), ephemera including leaflets and circulars (1982-1983); Press cuttings (1982-1983), badges.

The archive consists of minutes, agendas, constitutions, circulars, working papers, publications, reports, correspondence, newsletters, and source material for publications including press cuttings and printed works from other organisations.

The archive was transferred to The Women's Library by two members of the group, both active in the late 1960s to mid 1970s. As a result, survival of records is not uniform and reflects their interests, rather than being representative of MIA as a whole. Some non-MIA material was also present: this has been catalogued as 5MIA/13.

As at Jan 2009, The Women's Library held approximately 4,000 objects in the Museum Collection, with 3,840 additional objects identified in the archives.

The Women's Library Museum Collection objects are grouped in the following categories: Badges; Banners; Paintings; Photographs; Postcards; Posters; Textiles; - Objects and other ephemera e.g. souvenir material related to women's campaigning, ceramics used to promote or commemorate women's campaigning activities, artefacts associated with famous/prominent women.

The strength of the Museum Collection lies in the range of printed ephemera and artefacts that document suffrage campaign activities, in addition there is some material relating to later 20th century women's organisations and campaigning, such as feminist activity during the 1970s and 1980s. The Museum Collection complements the range of artefacts and ephemera held in The Women's Library archive and printed collections.

For further information about the scope of the banner, postcard, photograph and poster holdings see the introductions to (object numbers: twl.banner; twl.postcard; twl.poster).

Objects can be searched using the 'ObjectName' field. The main categories are named: badge, banner, photograph, postcard, painting, poster, textile.

Additional object names include: Album, Arm band , Ashtray, Bag, Blouse, Bookmark, Book token, Bottle, Braid, Bunting, Bunting flag, cake server, Calendar, Candleholder, Caricature, Cartoon, Chair back, Christmas card, Cigarette box, Clay pipe, Coaster, Coin, Comb, Cup, Design, Envelope, Flag, Flier, Fragment of aluminium, Game, Goblet, Gown, Greetings Card, Illustration, Jabot, Jacket, Key-ring, Magazine, Mallet, Map, Medal, Medallion, Membership Card, Memorial, Menu, Metal Cast, Mug, Needlecraft, Notebook, Offprint, Ornament, Packaging, Page, Patch, Pattern, Pen, Pin, Plaque, Plate, Print, Presentation volume, Programme, Record, Ribbon, Rosette, Sash, Saucer, Scarf, Seal, Shield, Ship's card, Sign, Silhouette, Spoon, Stamp, Sticker, Swizzle stick, T-Shirt, Tea Spoon, Tea Towel, Textile, Textile fragment, Ticket, Toy, Trousers, Unitard, Wallet, Wallpaper.

As at Jan 2009, The Women's Library held approximately 1,144 postcards in the Museum Collection, with 211 postcards identified in the archives.

The earliest postcards held result from suffrage campaigning and include: documentary photographs of suffrage activities and events, and portraits of activists produced by the Women's Social and Political Union, the Women's Freedom League, and illustrated propaganda cards produced by the Artists' Suffrage League and the Suffrage Atelier. The collection also includes a significant number of anti-suffrage comic cards produced by commercial printers. There is a range of cards illustrating the campaigns for women's enfranchisement in Holland, Sweden, France and USA amongst other countries. Women's contribution to the First World War is documented in a number of postcards that represent the Scottish Women's Hospitals and other hospitals.

In addition, the collection contains contemporary postcards dating from the late 1970s to the present day. It includes a selection of satirical cartoons concerned with female characteristics and roles, a range of cards produced by women's organisations and campaign groups, particularly peace groups, cards representing campaigning on issues internationally.

Most postcards in the collection are blank on the reverse side. There are a number, such as those sent by women on the suffrage caravan tours and during the First World War, which were sent and the text may be useful for research.