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Image credit: The Women's Library, London Metropolitan University - see image references at end
See our collections on display in our free exhibitions "All work and low pay: the story of women and work" and "Cycling to Suffrage: The Bicycle and Women's Rights, 1890-1914" and related events
Key class numbers and search terms
Key references, latest academic works and acqusitions
Periodicals
Press cuttings and ephemera
Zines and artist books
Electronic resources
Archive (personal and organisational papers)
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 library holds a wide range of literature relating to women from the seventeenth century to the present, including some English language fiction, poetry and drama. The collections also contain material about women in literary theory, history and genre, as well as women as readers, booksellers and publishers.
Key class numbers and search terms
The printed collections of The Women's Library are arranged in the Dewey Decimal Classification and listed on London Metropolitan University's online catalogue, available in the Reading Room and via the website. Key class numbers and search terms for literature include:
Key references, latest academic works and acquisitions
The Library holds the following guides and bibliographies, useful for identifying further information and material on the subject:
Alston, R.C. A checklist of women writers, 1801-1990: fiction, verse, and drama. Boston, Mass.: G.K.Hall, 1990. Reading Room 016.82099287ALS
Backsheider, Paula R. An annotated bibliography of twentieth century critical studies of women and literature, 1660-1800. New York; London: Garland, 1977. Reading Room 016.8209352042BAC
Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements, Isobel Grundy. Feminist companion to literature in English: women writers from the middle ages to the present. London: Batsford, 1990. Reading Room 820.99287FEM
Buck, Claire (ed). Bloomsbury guide to women's literature. London: Bloomsbury, 1992. Reading Room 809.8928703BLO
Hammill, Faye, Esme Miskimmin, Ashlie Sponenberg (eds). Encyclopedia of British Women's writing 1900-1950. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Reading Room 820.992870904ENC
Humm, Maggie. A reader's guide to contemporary feminist literary criticism. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1994. Reading Room 801.95082HUM
Sage, Lorna. The Cambridge guide to women's writing in English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Quick reference 820.9928703SAG
Wilson, Katharina. M., Schlueter, Jane (eds). Women writers of Great Britain and Europe: an encyclopaedia. New York; London: Garland, 1997. Quick reference 809.89287094WOM
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 literature are Mslexia, Silver moon quarterly and Writing women. Further periodical titles on the subject can be identified through the online catalogue.
For further guidance on identifying periodicals click here.
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 women's writing. In addition to the general press cuttings we also hold scrapbooks of press cuttings on 'novelists' and 'writers', and biographical press cuttings on specific authors.
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 such as Women in Publishing and Feminist Book Fortnight.
Zines and artist books
The Library's collections currently include more than 350 zines and 27 artist books all of which explore women's writing and expression.
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 catalogue or in the hard copy catalogues available in the Reading Room on the shelves adjacent to the Information Desk. The following archives, including records of organisations, societies, campaigns, personal papers, letters, and oral histories, relate to literature and writing:
6WCW Records of the Writer's Club
6WIL Women in Libraries
7BCA Papers of Barbara Cartland
7BEV Papers of Betty Vernon
7BMC Papers of Barbara McCrimmon related to Barbara Leigh Bodichon
7BSH Strachey papers
7EMH Papers of Edith Maud Hull
7HRM Papers of Harriet Martineau
7JLI Papers of Jane Lidderdale
7JPS Papers of (Joan) Pernel Strachey
7MEH Papers related to Winifred Holtby
9/7 Autograph letter collection: Literary ladies
9/27 Autograph letter collection: Strachey letters
Museum
The museum collection comprises postcards, photographs, posters, banners and badges. Further details of museum objects available for research can be found in the archive and museum catalogue or in the hard copy catalogues available in the Reading Room on the shelves adjacent to the Information Desk. A selection of images from the collection can be viewed at the Mary Evans Picture Library Specifically the Library holds posters relating to women's literature, journals and other publications (particularly book launches or advertisements for journals).
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.
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 writing are sites such as Jane Austen Society for the United Kingdom.
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.
Image references: Pankhurst, Sylvia. Writ on the cold slate. London : Dreadnought Publishers, 1922. Location: UDC pamphlets box 467 The Ladies' diary: or woman's almanack for the year of our Lord. London : Printed for the Company of Stationers ..., 1745-1831.(periodical) Location: Vault CB ; Blake, Lillie Devereux. Woman's place today: four lectures, in reply to the Lenten lectures on "Woman" by Rev. Morgan Dix. Location: UDC pamphlets
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