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Image credit: The Women's Library, London Metropolitan University - see image references at the 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 acquisitions
Periodicals
Press cuttings and ephemera
Zines and artist books
Electronic resources
Archives (personal and organisations' papers, 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 include a wide range of resources for the study of girls and women and sport. The library holds contemporary books, pamphlets and periodicals on women's sports, sport education and careers, exercise, fitness and sport sociology. In addition the collections include 19th century materials on women's recreations, conduct manuals and advice literature for young women and girls on physical activities. The biographical collections contain works on sportswomen. Relevant press cuttings and ephemera are available. The Library also provides access to many electronic resources.
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 women and sport 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:
Christensen Guttmann, K. Allen Pfister, G. International encyclopedia of women and sports. Vol.1-3 New York ; London : Macmillan USA, c2001. Reading Room Quick Ref 796.082 Author.
Shoebridge, Michele. Women in sport: a select bibliography. London : Mansell, 1987. Reading Room 016.7960194 SHO
Author. Langland P. J. The girl's guide to games, sports, hobbies and many other Interests. London : Nelson, [ca1930] Reading Room 790.194 GIR
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 include on women and sport are Poise: the health and beauty magazine, Ladies' Alpine Club, The dyke: lesbian walkers' magazine, Women in sport : the voice of women's sport and Outdoor women.
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. The Library holds illustrative presscuttings on sport in box 5.7 and biographical press cuttings, which supplement the printed biography collection on twentieth century sportswomen. The biographical press cuttings are drawn largely from obituaries.
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 details of the conference Sport for Women.
Zines and artist books
The Library's collections currently include more than 350 zines and 27 artist books.
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 (personal and organisations' papers and oral histories)
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 archive relates to women and sport. There are a number of additional files within individual archives which relate to sport. Useful search terms include the names of individual sports such as football, cricket and tennis.
5FWI/E/5 Records of the National Federation of Women's Institutes include a sub series on Sport and Leisure
Museum (objects, textiles and visual materials)
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. Specifically relating to sport, there are photographs c.1900 of rowing, hockey and cricket as well as posters by the Sports Foundation c.1980 and a 'Women's Day of Sport' badge c.1990.
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 Sport
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.
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