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Key class numbers and search terms
Key references, latest academic works and acquisitions
Periodicals
Press cuttings and ephemera
Zines and artist books
Electronic resources
Archives (personal and organisational papers and oral histories)
Museum (objects, textiles and visual materials)
Identifying images
Web Archive
Further information
The Women's Library, founded in 1926 as the Library of the London Society for Women's Service, exists to document and explore women's lives in Britain in the past, now and in the future. Printed material, ephemera, archives, oral histories and museum objects together form The Women's Library collections. The collections cover a range of topics including women's rights, suffrage, sexuality, health, education, employment, reproductive rights, the family and the home and are the most extensive resource for women's history in the UK.
The Library holds a range of material on women and health. This includes health education and advice literature for women, as well as information about women's work in the health professions. In addition to contemporary books, pamphlets and periodicals on the subject the collections also include the Library of the Josephine Butler Society, which contains many nineteenth and early twentieth century texts on women's health and related issues. The Library's collection of early household manuals also gives an insight into home remedies and women's responsibilities for the health of their families. The ephemera collection is a unique resource for researching health concerns, sex education and health promotion to women.
Key class numbers and search terms
The printed collections of The Women's Library are arranged in the Dewey Decimal Classification and listed the online catalogue, available in the Reading Room and via the website Key class numbers and search terms for women and health include:
See also Sources on women and psychology and sociology and social research
Key referencs, latest academic works and acquisitions
The Library holds the following guides and bibliographies useful for identifying further information and material on the subject:
Boston Women's Health Collective. Our bodies ourselves: a book by and for women. 2nd ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975. Reading Room Oversize 613.04244
Health education resources on women's health. London: Victoria Health Authority, 1984. Reading Room 016.613042440941
Leppa, Carol J. and Miller, Connie. Women's health perspectives: an annual review.Phoenix: Orynx Press, 1988. Reading Room 016.61304244
'Sickness and health care' in Kramer, Barbara Women in English social history 1800-1914: a guide to research in three volumes. New York: Garland, 1990. p332-441 Reading Room 016.305420942
'Women and health' in Hannam, June, Hughes, Ann and Stafford, Pauline, British women's history: a bibliographical guide. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996 p85-86. Reading Room 016.30540941
Wood, Sandra M. and Coggan Janet M. ed. Women's Health on the Internet. London: The Haworth Press Inc., 2000. Reading Room 025.066130424
The Women's Library's most recently published and newly available acquisitions
Periodicals
The Library holds a wide range of periodicals on women, including academic titles, popular magazines and campaigning newsletters. Some relevant periodical titles on health are Women and health, Top sante, London Black Women's Health Action project newsletter and Mental health. Further periodical titles on the subject can be identified through the online catalogue.
Press cuttings and ephemera
The presscuttings collections cover the whole of the 20th century and are particularly valuable for identifying contemporary comment where retrospective online newspaper coverage is unavailable. The Library holds microfilmed cuttings, up to 1979, on health and hygiene. A press cuttings scrapbook on the campaign against the Contagious Diseases Acts is also held at 10/3. The biographical press cuttings supplement the printed biographies collection and are a useful source of information about women health professionals.
The Library's ephemera collection contains information relating to women's organisations, including leaflets, flyers, minutes of meetings, agendas and all kinds of campaign literature. It includes ephemera for health organisations and campaigns, such as Women's Health Concern, the National Abortion Campaign, the Healthy and Artistic Dress Union.
Zines and artist books
The Library's collections currently include more than 350 zines and 27 artist books some of which explore motherhood.
Electronic resources
Electronic resources (online journals and databases) are currently only available to London Metropolitan University staff and students, and can be accessed via the online catalogue with their institutional identification and password. London Metropolitan Academic Liaison Librarians have provided a list of relevant e-resources.
Archives
A brief guide to the archives is available on The Women's Library's website. Further details of archives available for research can be found in the archive and museum collections catalogue or in the hand lists in the Reading Room on the shelves adjacent to the Enquiry Desk. The following archives, including records of organisations, societies, campaigns, personal papers and letters, relate to health:
2SWH/3/8 Records of the Scottish Women's Hospitals
3AMS Association for Moral and Social Hygiene
3BGF British, Continental & General Federation for Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution
3HJW Wilson, Henry J 1833-1914, pro-activist for the Contagious Diseases Acts
3JBL Josephine Butler letters
3LCA Lancashire and Cheshire Association for the Abolition of State Regulation of Vice
3LNA Ladies' National Association for Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts
3NAR National Association for Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts
5HWA Records of Hackney Women's Aid
5MAL Records of the Maternity Alliance
6UKH Records of the United Kingdom Home Economics Federation
6WIG Records of Women in Gynaecology and Obstretrics (WIGO)
7ELB Papers of Elsie Edith Bowerman
7HBE Papers of Helen Bentwich
7HEF Papers of Helen Franks
7HMS Papers of Hilda Squire
7HSE Papers of Hilda Seligman
Museum
This Collection includes badges, postcards, photographs, posters, textiles, some ceramics and other objects. Further details of museum objects available for research can be found in the archive and museum collections catalogue or in the hard copy catalogues available in the Reading Room on the shelves adjacent to the Enquiry Desk. A selection of images from the collection can be viewed at the Mary Evans Picture Library Museum objects on this topic can be located in the catalogue using terms such as health, reproduction, birth, as campaign names such as the National Abortion Campaign.
Identifying images
Images can be found throughout The Women's Library's collections. Many digital images are available on Flickr, Vads, the archives catalogue (click on the number in the left hand side) and Mary Evans Picture Library. Use Mary Evans Picture Library's fast service for a non-watermarked high resolution images suitable for publication. If you require an image which has not been digitised you are welcome to use our reprographic service. Normal copyright conditions will apply.
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Web Archive
This collection of web sites about Women's Issues is maintained by the British Library in collaboration with the Women's Library, London Metropolitan University. The collection was established in 2005 and has regularly collected web sites since then. It includes sites of women's organisations and campaigns, research reports, government publications and statistics pertaining to women, personal sites of women, such as blogs, and women focused e-zines. Specifically relevant to Health are sites such as BirthChoiceUK, British Menopause Society, Brook and Desertion Survivors which deal with Women's Reproductive, Sexual and Mental Health. The collection has also a number of sites providing information about Eating disorders and careers in Health.
Further information
The staff of The Women's Library can help you find material relating to your subject area; please don't hesitate to ask. You can contact the Information Desk staff prior to your visit via Email twlinfodesk@londonmet.ac.uk, telephone 020 7320 3515, or by asking at the Information Desk in the Reading Room on the day of your visit.
Return to source notes
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