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The archive consists of transcripts of interviews with members of the Women Against Pit Closures group collected by Betty Heathfield, relating to their involvement in the 1984-1985 miners' strike. It includes a draft of an unpublished book by Betty Heathfield about the strike entitled 'Women of the Coalfields' based on these oral history interviews. This portion of the collection is available in the form of transcripts that have been anonymised to protect the identity of the interviewees.

The archive also consists of transcripts of oral history interviews, collected by Betty Heathfield, with older members of the Women's Co-operative Guild (WCG) and working papers and drafts on the history of the Guild; papers relating to the WCG and Age Exchange Theatre Company, 1983. This portion of the collection is uncatalogued and not yet available.

The archive consists of letters from Charlotte Despard to Charles Wilson (1920-1932) ; photograph of Mrs Wilson (c. 1920); and a diary of a trip to the USSR (1930).

The letters cover the periods 1920-1922 and 1930-1932, and were written to Mr Charles Wilson of Willington, County Durham, Mr Wilson was a political activist who worked with the Durham miners, and Mrs Despard lectured to his students in 1921 and 1930. In the letters Mrs Despard refers to Mr Wilson's poetry; she also sent him a poem that she had written. She refers to her own political activities, in Ireland, lecturing for the Labour Party against British Policy in India. She also mentions several of the illnesses that were beginning to restrict severely such activities.