The archive consists of correspondence and papers relating to Rathbone's work raising the status of women in India. Her activities covered the effort to obtain the franchise for Indian women, their legal and social status, their education and especially their efforts to make illegal the practice of child marriage. Her correspondents include some of the key women activists in India in the 1920s and 1930s such as Begum Jehan Ara Shah Nawaz (1896-1976) the first woman member of the All-India Muslim League Council, and B Muthulakshmi Reddi (1886-1968) the first Indian woman doctor.
Rathbone , Eleanor Florence , 1872-1946 , social reformerRecords of the National Council of One Parent Families including proof of status and policy documents; minutes of committees and working parties, 1918-1995; annual reports, 1918-1989, ledgers and associated accounts; case books and related papers, 1918-1947; fundraising and appeals, 1925-1993; correspondence, including with government and associated bodies (1918-1995); publications, draft bills, acts and legislation, details of Friends and Members.
National Council of One Parent FamiliesThe 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.
Mothers in ActionThe archive consists of letters from Lees to agent (1982-4); letters from agent to Sheba Publishers and The Women's Press (1984); typed draft of chapter one of autobiography with annotations by Sheba (1984).
Lees , Gwen , [1900-1988] , writer