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The Women's Library exists to document and explore the past, present and future lives of women in Britain and houses the most extensive resource for women's history in the UK.
The Women's Library was originally established in 1926, as the Library of the London Society for Women's Service, the successor of the London women's suffrage organisation led by Millicant Fawcett. Its first home was a converted pub in Marsham Street, Westminster. Vera Douie, appointed in 1926, was the first librarian of the Women's Service Library, and she managed and developed the collections until her retirement in 1967. In 1953 both the Society and the Library were renamed in honour of Millicent Fawcett.
The Fawcett Society ran the Library until 1977, when it moved to City Polytechnic, later known as London Guildhall University, and now part of London Metropolitan University.
Until 2001, the collections were housed in a basement which was prone to flooding. In order to secure the long-term future of the collections, provide space for expansion and modern research facilities for users, the University sought funding for a new home for the collections. In 1998 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £4.2 million to purchase the site of the old East End wash houses and built a new centre to house the collections. The Women's Library was renamed and moved into its new purpose-built home in 2002.
The Women's Library today incorporates a Reading Room for the consultation of printed materials, archives, and museum collections, an exhibitions hall, and education and events facilities. It aims to inspire learning and debate on issues that concern women for the benefit of all and is an internationally renowned resource, available to everyone, for women's history research.
The Library at the Women's Service House, 1924 Readers at the Fawcett Library, 1985
The Women's Library, 2001
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