Primary sources for humanities: Women's history

British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries includes the immediate experiences of approximately 500 women, as revealed in over 90,000 pages of diaries and letters ... These diaries bring us much more than the personal. They provide a detailed record of what women wore, the conditions under which they worked, what they ate, what they read, and how they amused themselves.

This collection includes the immediate experiences of over one thousand women who lived in North America up to 1950, as reflected in 150,000 pages of diaries and letters. The materials have been carefully chosen using leading bibliographies, supplemented by customer requests and more than 7,000 pages of previously unpublished material. The collection also includes biographies and an extensive annotated bibliography of the sources in the database.

Select collections, then filter options, then archives, then select "Issues and identities"
This resource of 15 collections traces the path of women’s issues from past to present - pulling primary sources from manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and more. It captures the foundation of women’s movements, struggles and triumphs, and focuses on the social, political, and professional achievements of women throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century. Along with providing a closer look at some of the pioneers of women’s movements, it offers scholars a deep dive into the issues that have affected women. Topics covered include: the history of feminist theory and activism; domestic culture; lay and ordained church women; women in industry; women's sexuality and gender expression; women’s education; women’s movement; women’s health and mental health; women and law; women and the control of their bodies, and more.

Select collections, then filter options, then archives, then select "Voice & vision"
The Voice and Vision archive contains 15 collections, and brings yet more female voices to the forefront. Particular attention has been paid to the mediums through which women have created a voice for themselves, with female-authored literature, journals and magazines that were produced by women, not just for women. Looking beyond simply women’s suffrage, the archive covers multiple areas that are of key importance to the study of women’s history from a diverse and global perspective, from the abolition of slavery, alcohol and temperance movements, pacifism, and political activism, to domestic service, education, health and hygiene, divorce, and social reform.

This archive brings together over one million pages of women-authored works from the American Antiquarian Society, the pre-eminent collector of pre-20th century Americana, covering over a century of female writing. This unique corpus of female-authored literature centres on the American female experience in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The database not only provides women’s perspective of history but is an essential resource for researchers wanting to undertake in-depth analysis into women’s authorship, enabling them to track the development of female language, literature, and ideas.

Select collections, then filter options, then archives, then select "Female forerunners worldwide"
Female Forerunners Worldwide concerns women trailblazers, both individuals and organisations, who have impacted society through social reform, popular culture, healthcare and more. This fourth instalment of the Women's Studies Archive programme will host women's history collections focusing on advertising and advertising to minorities; birth control and sex education; the Civil Rights movement; healthcare and women in medicine especially nursing; religion and women's missionary work; migration; minority groups esp. African American and Jewish women; women in politics; prison reform particularly female criminals and women's philanthropic organisations to improve women's prisons; psychic investigations and the paranormal and women's rights and fight for suffrage.

The magazine began in 1945 as a bimonthly illustrated magazine tasked with countering anti-Soviet propaganda by introducing Western audiences to the lifestyle of Soviet women, their role in the post-WWII rebuilding of the Soviet economy, praising their achievements in the arts and the sciences. Over the years the magazine developed regular sections covering issues dealing with economics, politics, life abroad, life in Soviet republics, women’s fashion, as well as broader issues. One of its most popular features was the translations of Soviet literary works, making available in English, (and other languages) works of Russian and Soviet writers that were previously unavailable. It ceased publication in 1991.

This digital collection has been produced in association with the Perdita Project based at the University of Warwick and Nottingham Trent University. "Perdita" means "lost woman" and the aim of the Project has been to identify and describe all manner of manuscript writing by early modern women who were “lost” because their writing exists only in manuscript form. Includes complete facsimile images of over 230 manuscripts written or compiled by women living in the British Isles during the 16th and 17th centuries. Contents include account books, advice, culinary writing, meditation, travel writing, and verse.

This Archives Unbound collection provides access to the full text of some of the most significant and least-widely held women’s periodicals produced from the late Eighteenth century through the early 1930s. Historical women’s periodicals provide an important resource to scholars interested in the lives of women, the role of women in society and, in particular, the development of the public lives of women as the push for women’s rights—woman suffrage, fair pay, better working conditions, for example—grew in the United States and England.

Issues of gender and class ignited nineteenth-century debate in the context of suffrage movements, culture, immigration, health and many other concerns. Using a wide array of primary source documents--serials, books, manuscripts, diaries, reports, and visuals--this archive focuses on issues at the intersection of gender and class from the late-eighteenth century to the era of suffrage in the early-twentieth century, all through a transnational perspective, with deep information on European and North American movements.

The Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Womens Association was founded in 1930 to strengthen international understanding and friendship among the women of Asia and the Pacific and women of the U.S.A. The group promoted cooperation among women of these regions for the study and improvement of social, economic, and cultural conditions, and engaged in studies on Asian and Pacific affairs. The collection is sourced from the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, USA.

This resource brings together hundreds of accounts by women of their travels across the globe from the early 19th century to the late 20th century. Sources cover many topics and a wide variety of forms of travel writing is represented, ranging from unique manuscripts, diaries and correspondence to drawings, guidebooks and photographs. The resource includes a slideshow with hundreds of items of visual material, including postcards, sketches and photographs. The sources can also be used to examine the variety of motivations for travel including tourism, work, exploration, missionary work and pilgrimages. They also show the diverse range of women who travelled.

This digital archive currently includes 150,000 pages of conference proceedings, reports of international women's organizations, publications and web pages of women's non-governmental organizations, and letters, diaries, and memoirs of women active internationally since the mid-nineteenth century. It also includes photographs and videos of major events and activists in the history of women's international social movements. There are also 25-30 essays exploring themes illuminated by the primary documents in the archive commissioned from leading contemporary scholars. The primary source material illuminates how women’s international organizations have focused on issues related to peace, poverty, child labor, literacy, disease prevention, and global inequality.

Women and Social Movements in the United States,1600-2000 is a resource for students and scholars of U.S. history and U.S. women's history. Organized around the history of women in social movements in the U.S. between 1600 and 2000, this collection seeks to advance scholarly debates and understanding about U.S. women’s history. The collection currently includes over 100 document projects and archives with more than 5,000 documents and 175,000+ pages of additional full-text documents, written by thousands of primary authors. It also includes book, film, and website reviews, notes from the archives, and teaching tools.

This resource is comprised of two distinct elements: A finding aid to women's studies resources in the National Archives, Kew; and, Original documents on the suffrage question in Britain, the Empire and colonial territories. The finding aid enables researchers to quickly locate details of any document relating to women in the National Archives at Kew, and has the benefit of ranging across all of the classes of material held at the National Archives. The original documents focus on the campaign for women's suffrage in Britain, 1903-1928, and the granting of women's suffrage in colonial territories, 1930-1962.

Defining Gender explores the study and analysis of gender, leisure and consumer culture, one of the most vibrant areas of social, cultural and intellectual research, transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries. The broad range of thematically organised documents from selected libraries provides an excellent opportunity for comparative study and research. Original British source material includes ephemera, pamphlets, commonplace books, diaries, etc., and address the key issues from both masculine and feminine perspectives

This database contains printed and manuscript sources over four centuries, providing a multitude of perspectives on the changing roles of women in history. It offers access to the works and legacy of many notable and influential women, but also a chance to hear the voices of forgotten and ordinary women. Highlights include: Papers and rare printed works of important female writers and thinkers; Life writing and autobiographies of a range of 18th and 19th century women; The papers of Sylvia Pankhurst, suffragette, political activist and campaigner; Diaries and correspondence of aristocratic women, giving insights into the social, political and cultural history of rich and powerful women of the 18th and 19th centuries; Women's travel writing - manuscript and printed accounts of women travellers, missionaries, tourists and women living across the British Empire.

Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index covers journal articles, book reviews, and essays in books about women, sexuality, and gender during the Middle Ages. Note: Books written by a single author are not indexed in Feminae.

This database contains printed and manuscript sources over four centuries, providing a multitude of perspectives on the changing roles of women in history. It offers access to the works and legacy of many notable and influential women, but also a chance to hear the voices of forgotten and ordinary women. Highlights include: Papers and rare printed works of important female writers and thinkers; Life writing and autobiographies of a range of 18th and 19th century women; The papers of Sylvia Pankhurst, suffragette, political activist and campaigner; Diaries and correspondence of aristocratic women, giving insights into the social, political and cultural history of rich and powerful women of the 18th and 19th centuries; Women's travel writing - manuscript and printed accounts of women travellers, missionaries, tourists and women living across the British Empire.