Social Science blog

Exploring Social Science at the British Library

10 posts from August 2013

06 August 2013

Resources for women's and gender studies at the British Library

You may have already read blog posts which talk about the 'Sisterhood and After' learning resource at the British Library which includes extracts from oral history interviews with 60 women involved in the UK second wave feminist movement. This resource and the oral history interviews from which these extracts were taken (now part of the British Library collections) are really the tip of the iceberg in terms of the collections here which are relevant to researching women's lives. So I thought I'd write a post about some of the inspiring collections which are available and about some of the guides which you can use to help you research women's history, gender studies and feminism at the British Library.

WEB Men wouldn't wear it © The Fawcett Society

'Men wouldn't wear it' (c) The Fawcett Society

As well as the 'Sisterhood and After' oral history collection, there are many oral history collections which specifically explore women's experiences. For example, the Harman-Shephard collection of interviews includes interviews with 83 women members of Parliament, most of whom entered Parliament after the 1997 election. This could be a really valuable resource for those interested in women's political participation in the UK.

There are a number of collections relevant to the changes in birth control in the latter part of the twentieth century. As well as women talking about their own experiences of contraception and abortion in the 'Sisterhood and After' collection, there are collections such as the Lara Marks contraceptive pill interviews - a collection of 53 recordings of interviews with different people involved in the development of the contraceptive pill. The oral history collections at the British Library include interviews with women nurses, doctors and other medical practitioners; women protesters and activists; women working in male-dominated professions such as merchant and investment banking; women inventors and scientists and many, many more. These collections hold incredible research potential to those seeking first-hand accounts of women's lives. For more information on oral histories about women see these pages.

Well-known historical figures feature strongly in our collections which include personal items such as letters, diaries and manuscripts (some of which are on display in our Treasures gallery). The manuscripts collections include letters by Virginia Woolf and Leonard Woolf. For instance, there is a collection of letters from Virginia and Leonard to the writer and critic John Lehmann which also includes three by Leonard in which he writes of Virginia's illness and suicide. These items can be found on the Archives and Manuscripts catalogue.

WEB Charleston Bulletin Supp_Cover

Cover of the The Charleston Bulletin Supplements, edited by Claudia Olk
Price: £12.99 / ISBN 9780712358910 / Hardback / 144 pages. Illustration (c) 2013 the Estates of Virginia Woolf and Quentin Bell

More recently, the British Library has published previously unpublished work by Woolf as The Charleston Bulletin Supplements which were illustrated by her nephew, Quentin Bell, in the form of a family newspaper.

Some of the more hidden histories of women, such as military women, feature in the collections with bibliographies such as this one on Women and War to get you started. This bibliography shows a picture of Kit Cavanagh also known as Christian Davies and Mother Ross, an Irish woman of the late 17th and early 18th centuries who disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the British Army, fighting in several battles and successfully concealing her true sex. The collections at the British Library include 18th century accounts of her life and adventures such as The Life and Adventures of Mrs. Christian Davies, published in 1740.

Finally, as the Propaganda exhibition shows, women have been the target of many different forms of propaganda by the State, particularly around the health and well-being of the family and child. The Propaganda exhibition includes examples of public health messages about (for example) the cleanliness of the home, diet and nutrition of children and babies, vaccinations and hygiene, which (usually) being targeted at women, are resources for the study of the history and prevalence of gendered expectations about caring and domestic responsibilities.

Other useful links:

For more British Library bibliographies relating to women's lives see this list.

For another blog post about 'Sisterhood and After' see here.

02 August 2013

How does our history inspire you?

In this guest post Jenni Orme, Records Specialist for Diverse Histories at The National Archives, introduces their 'Files on film' competition which hopes to use archive material to inspire budding film makers.

Like many other heritage organisations, The National Archives is always looking for new ways of engaging with as many audiences as possible to make them aware of the collections we hold. As part of this goal, we have launched a short film competition, Files on film, supported by the Friends of The National Archives, highlighting some of the diversity that is contained within our records. We wanted to bring what are often ‘hidden histories’ in national collections like ours, in to the spotlight.

Files on film image

Image taken from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/filesonfilm.

The competition was inspired by similar ideas in other sectors, particularly charities, which have used film competitions in the past to enhance particular campaigns or launch new initiatives. We’re hoping to engage with a creative, technology-savvy audience to see what they could do when inspired by The National Archives’ records and encourage similar creative use of our collections in the future.

As you might imagine, narrowing down a selection of documents from our collection of over 11 million was not an easy task! We could have had a hundred documents very easily, but didn’t want to overwhelm people, so finally settled on ten items, mainly extracts from files. In the pieces we chose, we aimed to reflect some of the underrepresented histories in our collection. Some are well known areas of history on which the documents provide a slightly different slant, for example the plans to evacuate disabled children during the Second World War and how to provide them with safe accommodation and shelters. Others are areas that are perhaps less well known within our collections, such as the treatment of lesbians in the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) in the mid-twentieth century.

Another is a ‘document’ in the loosest sense of the word. A true mystery lies in the jewellery box and contents left behind by Mary Smith, “a lunatic”. No more is known about her, other than her personal effects were never collected after being submitted as exhibits at the Court of Chancery in 1811. After the court case was settled, her possessions became part of the Chancery holdings which eventually passed to The National Archives.

Jewellery box
 “Mary Smith of Middx, a lunatic": Jewellery box containing various articles of jewellery. The articles were deposited by Thomas Long of Christ Hospital, London.” 1811. The National Archives (TNA): C 114/190.

Other women appear in the selection in the form of the suffragette protest on the night of the 1911 census. Two contrasting householder forms are included, one showing the personal protest of a female head of household, “No vote, no census”, the other showing the opinion of the husband of a suffragette, who as the head of household objects to the “silly subterfuge” of his wife having crossed her name off the family list.

No vote no census
1911 Census householder schedule for Louisa Burnham. Registration Sub-District: Clapham Civil Parish, Township or Place: Wandsworth Borough (part), 1911.  TNA: RG 14/2277/362.

All 10 documents are available to download from the Files on film website, along with brief contexts to accompany each one. You can also read more about some of them on our blog.

We’re asking budding filmmakers to be inspired by any part of the documents and submit a 3 minute film. Entries close on 24 September, 2013 and the winner will be chosen by a panel of judges including Oliver Morley, Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker David Katznelson whose credits include Downton Abbey and Games of Thrones.

The winning entry will be shown on The National Archives' website and will receive a cash prize of £450, while one runner-up will receive £200.

For inspiration, and to prove that anyone can do it (!), some of the staff at The National Archives have put together a short film of our own to introduce the competition.

 

Full details of how to enter, terms and conditions and the digitised documents are available on the competition page, and check #filesonfilm on twitter for updates.

We hope you’ll feel inspired to get involved. As they (almost) say in the ‘business’, Lights, Camera, Archives! (Sorry.)