| Activity | The Women's Library (1926-fl.2008) was established in 1926 as the Library of the London Society for Women's Service, a non-militant organisation led by Millicent Fawcett. It is now held by London Metropolitan University and is an internationally acclaimed specialist Library, Archive and Museum with collections that have broadened from its original brief of the Society and now focus on the lives of women in Britain. It has achieved Designated Status (UK Department of Culture Media & Sport) and for its Museum collection has achieved Accredited Status.
THE EARLY YEARS
During 1924-1925 LSWS decided to develop its small library (3 shelves mainly composed of 'Blue Books' of government statistics) acquired during the parliamentary suffrage campaign. An experienced librarian, Vera Douie, was appointed. Douie took up her appointment on 1 Jan 1926 and managed and developed the collections for 41 years until her retirement in 1967. The Women's Service Library aimed to be a special library and information bureau on all matters relating to the economic position of women. The Honorary Librarian from 1926 until her death in 1964 was Miss Jane Norton, a bibliographer and member of the society.
The Library had two objectives: to commemorate the history of the women's suffrage movement; and to provide up-to-date information on the status of women, specifically employment, to support the work of the Society and its members (mainly professional women). The Library aimed to be managed professionally: it also became a member of ASLIB and it was catalogued using UDC (Universal Decimal Classification Scheme), with the 1927 French edition being implemented. The majority of users during these years used the Library to access contemporary reports and statistics with some users referring to the 'historic' collections.
The Library's first home was a converted public house in Marsham Street, Westminster. In 1926 Sarah Clegg founded The Women's Service Trust with a bequest of £20,000, to support the work of the society, but with restrictions in case the remit of the Society changed. Clegg was a member of the Society and a regular financial supporter. In Apr 1929 Millicent Fawcett laid the foundation stone to an new building on adjoining land, work being completed in Dec 1930, the building consisted of a small hall, a cafeteria, a library and a reading room. The Library and reading room were well appointed; there was a domed skylight and armchairs whilst The Carnegie Trust provided funds for Library oak shelving. It should be noted that the Library was a lending Library for most of its life.
Members included the intellectual and political elite of the time, the Stracheys, the Woolfs, and Rose Macaulay were all members who attended events and donated material or funds to the Library. The first significant deposit was from Lord Emmott who donated 100 books on politics and the economy, also bound copies of Hansard. In 1930 the Astor collection (330 items originally from the Crosby Hall Library) was deposited. In 1931 the Edward Wright Library (900 items) and the Cavendish Bentinck Collection (1000+ items) were given to The Women's Service Library in trust. In 1935 the Lina Eckenstein Collection (150 books) and Ada Wallas Collection (50? books) were deposited. By 1937 the Library had over 6,000 bound volumes together with growing collections of pamphlets, periodicals and press cuttings. The first 'archive' deposit was received on 30 Sep 1932. It was a 'collective' deposit of single autograph letters of Millicent Fawcett and Harriet Martineau that came from different donors. Additional deposits relating to both these women were to come in later years. In 1939 the Sadd Brown Library was founded in memory of Myra Sadd Brown and focused on women from Commonwealth countries; it still actively provided funds for additions to the Library in 2008. Similarly Alice Franklin came to support the Library through her friendship with Gertrude Horton. Horton had worked for Pippa Strachey, and Franklin came to the Library as a volunteer fundraiser. Upon Franklin's death in 1964 a memorial fund was established and a number of books were purchased for the Fawcett Library.
The Marsham Street properties' freeholds were purchased for The Women's Service Trust by Sarah Clegg; sadly she died intestate in 1930 which, together with the war, led to financial difficulties. In 1938 an appeal for an endowment of £15,000 was launched. The President was Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, supporters named in the brochure included Caroline Spurgeon, Rose Macaulay and Virginia Woolf.
WARTIME AND AFTERMATH
After a first bomb 'hit' in 1941, Douie and the Library moved to Oxford, to accommodation made available by the Society of Home Students (later St Anne's College). Additional accommodation was given by St Hughs College, Lady Margaret Hall and the Sacred House Convent. There was no acquisitions fund during the war years; the Librarian arranged bring and buy sales, she also donated money earned through part-time munitions work. The second-hand bookshops in Oxford also supplemented the collections - including rare works such a religious work by Mary Astell for 12/6d. Whilst in Oxford most users were Social Science students working on social history and political subject areas. The Library had previously been primarily used by members of the Society, from this period 'external' users were encouraged to become members of the Library and paid fees to contribute to its upkeep.
The Marsham Street premises were bombed several times and Philippa Strachey had to move the offices to Broadway, Westminster. During this period some of the records of the Society were destroyed by vandalism during a break-in to the offices. Away from the 'club' environment of Marsham Street it was more difficult to stage events. However exhibitions such as 'Women in the Theatre' were put on, and in 1951 the Library contributed to Festival of Britain Exhibitions including 'Women in Britain' mounted in partnership with the National Book League (291/400 exhibited books came from the Library'.
Post-war the Marsham Street property was not usable and was sold to Westminster City Council, later becoming the Abbey Community Centre. Philippa Fawcett gave £6,000 to clear the Women's Service Trust's bank overdraft. This made it possible for the Library to return from Oxford in 1949, to 'temporary' accommodation given by Westminster City Council in the Great Smith Street branch of the Council's Public Library. The Library remained at these premises until 1957. Douie meanwhile worked with other Trust staff at offices in Tufton Street.
RENAMING TO FAWCETT
In 1953 the Society was renamed in honour of Millicent Fawcett. In 1957 'Fawcett House' a freehold in Wilfred Street was purchased and the Library and offices moved. In Mar 1957 the Fawcett Library Trust was formed; the Women's Service Library was placed in the Trust's care whilst remaining the property of the Fawcett Society. In 1956[7] the 'Learned Ladies' exhibition opened the Wilfred Street premises. A 1959 exhibition celebrated the birth of Mary Wollestonecraft, and in 1962 'Women Travellers' marked the centenary of Mary Kingsly's birth.
By this stage the balance of users had shifted, with more users referring to the historic collections rather than the contemporary collections; this was in part due to the separation of the Library from the 'club' ethos of the previous building. Also, much of the government and statistical information was now available in local libraries. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s use of the Library remained constant. The Library became a member of the British National Book Centre (BNBC) which contributed to book stock through discarded items from other libraries. The Library also exchanged material with Smith College in America and with the International Archives of the Women's Movement in Amsterdam. The first purchase from Sotherby's was made whilst at Wilfred Street - a copy of the 17thC "Advice to the Women and Maidens of London" for £120 (£5 of which was donated by an unsuccessful competing bidder!)
In 1956 the Josephine Butler Library, including a substantial book and pamphlet Library, the Association for Moral & Social Hygiene archive and the Josephine Butler Letter Collection were deposited.
Although there was an acquisition fund this remained low; an average of 2/3 of the book acquisitions were donated by members in the 1960s. In 1964 the Women's Migration & Overseas Appointments Society offered the 'Emigration Archives' to The Fawcett Library when the Society was being wound up.
In 1957 The Fawcett Library Trust was established in order to place the Library on a sound financial footing. Despite this by the early 1960s the finances were in difficulties. In 1964, with advice from Lord Bridges the President of the Fawcett Society and under the Chair Lady Stocks a Library Appeal was launched; £26,000 was raised between Oct 1964 and the closure of the Appeal in 1970. Much of the Fund was committed to particular projects sponsored by individual donors/organisations. So despite these funds the Library's financial situation remained precarious during this period and different options for maintaining the Library were suggested.
In 1967 Vera Douie retired; Miss Mildred Surry who had already worked at the Library succeeded her.
The Fawcett Society continued to run the Library, with increased financial issues, until 1977. In 1972 a Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Grant employed x archivists for a two-year cataloguing project, but this did little to change the backlog or the increased number of additional archives being deposited by organisations that closed during the 1960s and 1970s. For example the 'Vigilance Archives' deposited in 1972 and 1973 from the offices of the British Vigilance Association and International Bureau for the Suppression of Traffic in Persons.
By 1973 it was clear that the Society could not continue to fund the Library itself and started discussions for a new home. By 1974 Miss Surry and the Library clerk Mrs Gazzanga shared cleaning duties between them, as the Library could no longer afford a cleaner. In 1974 Mrs Gazzanga left followed in 1975 by Miss Mildred Surry as there was no money to pay their salaries. The rise of the women's liberation movement in these years, with the creation of a wide range of feminist literature available to collect must have been particularly frustrating. Funds also came from British Library Lending Division (BLLD) loan scheme (the scheme began in 1973). In 1976 the British Library provided a temporary grant of £200 per month to employ a part time librarian in order to maintain the Collection
An initial offer of a home was made by Westfield College - however they required funds to maintain the collection. c.1975 an offer came from the London School of Economics it stipulated that they would only take less than half the collection and would disperse the printed materials throughout their existing collections. Initially the Society accepted the offer (at the AGM) but the Library Trust reviewed the terms and urged the decision be reversed. Subsequently the University of East Anglia also made an offer.
THE MOVE FROM FAWCETT
In 1976 Rita Pankhurst, Librarian of the City of London Polytechnic (and daughter in law of Sylvia Pankhurst) offered to take the Collection and keep it intact. A public row followed as to whether the LSE or COLP should be given the collection. At a meeting on the 23 Nov 1975 an Emergency General Meeting of the Society voted to pass the collection to COLP.
In 1977 the building was sold and the Library was physically moved and legally gifted to City of London Polytechnic, later known as London Guildhall University, and became part of London Metropolitan University. From 1977 to 2001 the collections were housed in offices in Old Castle Street. In 1977 the Manpower Service Commission Job Creation Programme provided funds for one year to employ 2 qualified librarians and 7 library assistants to carry out initial work on organising the collection (contract ended on 31 Mar 1978). In Dec 1977 Catherine Ireland was appointed University Archives & Special Collections Manager with special responsibility for the Fawcett Library. The stock was reclassified to ensure MARC catalogue records could be used. In 1978 the Equal Opportunities Commission provided funds to employ a library cataloguer for one year. In 1979? the Sir John Cass Foundation gave a £7,500 grant for preservation work. Also in 1979, Vera Douie died, leaving £1,000 to The Library in her will.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LIBRARY UNDER COLP
c.1978 until 1987 BiblioFem was introduced, a microfiche partial copy of the printed collections catalogue, it was sold to a range of subscribers from international libraries which wanted access to the Fawcett Library catalogue as a feminist bibliography. Rita Pankhurst focussed the Library's efforts on collecting the history of women, though a proportion of contemporary material continued to be donated and collected. 28 Jun-11 Jul 1978 the Fawcett Library exhibition 'Liberty, Equality and Sisterhood: 50 years of equal voting rights for men and women' opened at the Whitechapel Art Gallery.
Whilst providing a secure home for the collection, with access to COLP members and external users, the collection was managed by professional staff who improved the catalogues and finding aids. Unfortunately, the Library offices provided by COLP in this period were in a cramped basement that was prone to flooding.
In Apr 1981 The Library received £10,751 from the estate of Philippa Strachey, a proportion of her estate bequeathed in her will of Jul 1967 to be paid on the death of her niece which occured in Dec 1979.
In Jul 1980 the Charity Commissioners approved a scheme re the regulation of the Cavendish Bentinck and Edward Wright Libraries. It was agreed that the Chair of the Fawcett Society and two nominees of the City of London Polytechnic were to be the Truestees. The Trustees met in Oct 1980 and placed the Libraries in the care of the Polytechnic to administer as part of the Fawcett Library, the Polytechnic being requested to report annually to the Trustees. The assets from earlier trusts realised £425; it was agreed these monies were to be spent binding 41 books.
Donations of books and archives continued with Virago and The Women's Press donating copies of all their published works.
In 1983 the first archivist, Margaret Sweet was appointed. The British Library Gift & Exchange Scheme continued to supplement the printed collections. In May 1984 a travelling exhibition was opened by Baronness Platt on 'Women into Science and Engineering' which went to the Festival Hall, Barbican Library and several schools. In Jul 1986 a partnership agreement with Mary Evans Picture Library was agreed, which gave users an efficient and reliable reproduction service.
In 1987 Fawcett transferred its Printed Catalogue from BLAISE LOCAS (also known as BLAISE British library Automated Information Service, LOCAS - Local Cataloguing System) to SALCAP shared system. By becoming part of City of London Polytechnic (COLP) main cataloguing system costs were reduced. [It appears the Fawcett Library catalogue was still a separate database at this point]. Apr 1988- c.1995: SWALCAP was transferred to Libertas Library Computerised Catalogue. Cataloguing and classification from this point conformed to the wider Library Services standards and ahsred the Polytechnic catalogue rather than remain on SALCAP. 19?? The Library catalogue was moved to Millennium.
In 1989 Katharine Whitehorn headed a Radio 4 appeal for the library which resulted in £6,540.25 being raised for the Library
In 1998 Anna Greening launched an online guide to the archives, this initially restricted to intranet / on-site access only later being released on the Web. It consisted of collection level descriptions for the archives, these were later improved and transferred to archive networks such as Aim25 and the Archives Hub c.2000.
In the 1990s 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 Library. In 1998 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of £4.2 million to purchase the site of the old East End washhouses and build a new centre to house the collections. The Women's Library was renamed and moved into its new purpose-built home in 2002.
A NEW BUILDING - A NEW NAME 'THE WOMEN'S LIBRARY
By 2002 the aims of were to document and explore women's lives in Britain in the past, the present and the future and it housed the most extensive resource for women's history in the UK. The Women's Library in its new centre incorporated a Reading Room for the consultation of printed materials, archives and museum collections, an exhibition hall, education and events facilities. It aimed to inspire learning and debate on issues that concern women for the benefit of all and was an internationally renowned resource, available to everyone, for women's history research.
The Fawcett Library was a lending library; in its later years only books published after 1980 were lent. Prior to this historic books, pamphlets and periodicals as well as archives were lent to users - often for several years. When The Women's Library opened in 2002, all books published before 1920 were placed in closed access. For the long-term security and preservation of the collection the decision was made to cease lending and to become a reference library; and this was instituted in the lead up to the move.
In Nov 2003 The Women's Library was awarded Registered Museums status by Re:source The Council for Museums Libraries and Archives.
Aug 2005 Millennium software was developed to create an online union catalogue that cross-searched the entire London Metropolitan University Library holdings across the north and city campuses, including TUC and Women's Library Collections.
On 2 Feb 2007 The Women's Library Collection, in its entirety, were awarded Designated Status by the MLAC on behalf of the Department of Culture Media & Sport. [As at 2009 this scheme had recognised 125 UK collections with this award, which identified the pre-eminent collections of national and international importance held in England's non-national museums, libraries and archives, based on their quality and significance. The Women's Library was unique at this time in having it's Archive, Library and Museum holdings Designated as a whole.]
Throughout its history the Library has collected contemporary material on the position of women and subjects of special concern to them. In addition many organisations and individuals have gifted their personal archives or publications to the Library in order to ensure a wealth of material was collected.
In Jun 2008 The Women's Library achieved full Museums Accreditation Status by the MLAC (Museums Libraries and Archives Council)
In 2011 the Women's Library and the Parliamentary Archives were included in the Unesco Memory of the World Register: 'Documentary Heritage of the Women's Suffrage Movement in Britain, 1865-1928'. The eight items inscribed on the Register, tell the story of the womens suffrage movement from the 1860s to the achievement of suffrage in 1928. The documents begin with the 1866 Petition which enabled John Stuart Mills to be the first person in Parliament to call for womens suffrage; and ends with the success of the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act of 1928 and a congratulatory letter from the Prime Minister to the leader of the National Union of Womens Suffrage Societies, Millicent Fawcett. The sample of documents represents the extensive womens suffrage movement in Britain, and Parliaments response to this, and seeks to epitomise a movement that continues to excite the public imagination and generate academic debate among historians of suffrage, feminism and British political life. This select group of items has been chosen to create a narrative of this movement, an inheritance that keeps alive the history of [womens] long march to equality, which is so often forgotten or ignored (Mary Stott).
ANNUAL LECTURE
* Fawcett inaugural Annual Lecture : 2 Nov 1995 [By faith and daring] : Glenys Kinnock
* 2nd Fawcett Annual Lecture : 12 Nov 1996 What does a woman want? Barbara Mills QC (then Director of the Crime Prosecution Service)
* 3rd Fawcett Annual lecture: 27 Nov 1997 Educating women Baroness Brigstocke
* 4th Fawcett Annual lecture: 6 Nov 2000 Women and Fertility Ruth Deech, Chairman of the Human Fertilisation and Embyology Authority in discussion with Sarah Dunant [held at the Wellcome Institute, presumably because the new building had not yet opened]
* 5th Fawcett Annual lecture: 1999 Women and global change : Baroness Valerie Amos
* 25 Nov 2010 Sandi Toksvig 'Post Feminism:thank goodness the need for feminism is over!'
* 1 Nov 2011 Baroness Helene Hayman first female Speaker of the House of Lords in conversation with Guardian journalist and broadcaster Jackie Ashley.
EXHIBITIONS
Feb-Jul 2002 Cooks and Campaigners
Sep 2002 - Jan 2003 Dirty Linen
Feb 2003 - Apr 2003 - Grow Up! Advice and the Teenage Girl
May - Aug 2003 Keeping Pace - Older Women of the East End
Oct - Dec 2003 Art for Votes Sake, Visual Culture and the Women's Suffrage Campaign
Feb - May 2004 Office Politics, women in the workplace 1860-2004
Jun - Aug 2004 Beauty Queens - Smiles, Swimsuits and Sabotage
Aug 2004 Sylvia Pankhurst - Artist and Campaigner
Oct 2004 - Apr 2005 Iron Ladies: Women in Thatcher's Britain
Oct 2005 - 26 Aug 2006 What Women Want
2006 - 2007 Prostitution: What's Going On?
Oct 2007 Mar 2008 Sinners, Scroungers, Saints: Lone Mothers Past and Present
Oct 2008 - Aug 2009 Between the Covers: Women's Magazines and their Readers
8 Oct 2009- Spring 2010 Ms Understood - Women's Liberation in the 1970s Britain
May - Oct 2010 Out of the Archives: New Art Inspired by The Women's Library
Oct 2010 Apr 2011 Hand Made Tales: Women and Domestic Crafts
May 2011- autres mers (other seas), Artwork by Françoise Dupré
Oct 2011- Aug 2012 All Work and Low Pay: The Story of Women and Work
Oct - Dec 2012 Long March to Equality: Treasures of The Women's Library
FOYER EXHIBITIONS
Sep - Dec 2002 Cleanliness
Mar 2006 Nova
2007 Action Women: the real story of the Womens Institutes
Jan 2008 -Mar 2008 Jo Holland's Combined Unity
Oct 2009 - Mar 2010 Striking Women: Voices of South Asian workers from Grunswick and Gate Gourmet
May 2010- FeMAIL: Suffragettes and the Post
Apr to May 2011 - (In) Memoriam
Jun 2011- Persona: Power of Make-Up
- 2012 - Archival Tales: Uncovering Inter-war Black Histories
Mar- Sep 2012 Cycling to Suffrage: The Bicycle and Women's Rights, 1890-1914
Sep - Dec 2012 Let's hear it for the boys!
SITE SPECIFIC, TOURING AND VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS
2005 Online Exhibition: Bear Ye One Another's Burdens
Jun 2009 and Jun 2010 Touring Exhibition: Breaking Barriers toured Essex
May 2006- Mar 2007 Action Women: the real story of the Womens Institutes toured Reading, York, and South Wales
17 Oct - 21 Dec 2007 Sarah Gillam: Clear
Spring 2012 Women and the Vote: Unesco Award exhibition at Houses of Parliament |