Research Guides: Guide to Primary Sources: Women

Links to Collections

British and Irish Womens Letters and Diaries
Collection of diaries and letters of 500+ women's experiences, spanning more than 300 years.
North American Womens Letters and Diaries
Collection of women’s diaries letters, and correspondence spanning more than 300 years, covering the personal experiences of hundreds of North American women.

American Women's History Online
Primary sources, including photos, letters, diaries, artifacts, etc., documenting the women's history in the US. Materials range from Pueblo pottery to interviews with women engineers from the 1970s. From Middle Tennessee State University.
Emma Goldman Papers
Essays, letters, speeches, photographs, and other historical documents from the Emma Goldman Papers, plus finding aids and links to other resources. Goldman (1869-1940) was a major figure in the history of radical and feminist movements in the U.S.

Gerritsen Women's History Collection
Books, periodicals, and pamphlets on women's history and the evolution of feminism. Covers four centuries and 15 languages, with publications from the U.S., U.K., Canada, New Zealand, and continental Europe.
Two collections in this database:
The Periodical Series: This segment represents about 25 percent of the material in the database. It comprises 265 titles, including The Suffragist (1913-21) and The Women's Protest Against Woman Suffrage (1912-18).
Monograph Language Series: These 4,471 monographs and pamphlets make up about 75 percent of the collection. Included are 2,336 titles tracing suffragism in the English-speaking world. The collection will soon include 929 German titles that document the history of organized movements in Germany and Switzerland, and 734 French titles that cover women's issues from Gallic times through World War II.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
Primary sources documenting women's movements and women activists in the US, with a focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics include women and antislavery, women's suffrage, the Feminist movement, Equal Rights movement, and women's role in Civil Rights .

National Women's History Museum Online Exhbits
Online museum dedicated to uncovering, interpreting, and celebrating women’s diverse contributions to society. Exhibits include primary sources.

Women and the Law (Peggy)
Collection of books, biographies, and periodicals dedicated to women's roles in society and the law. Includes primary legal and political documents and secondary scholarly analysis of issues such as women's suffrage, women in the workforce, women's education, abortion, and more. These materials provide context on the progression of women's roles and rights in society over the past 200 years.
Also included are more than 70 titles from Emory University Law School's Feminism and Legal Theory Project, providing context on the effects of law and culture on the female gender.

Women's Liberation Movement Print Culture
Collection documenting the Women's Movement in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, with a focus on the radical origins of this movement. Includes manifestos, speeches, essays, and other materials such as radical theoretical writings, to humorous plays, to the minutes of an actual grassroots group.
Chicago Women's Liberation Union: Herstory Project
Documents from the most significant socialist feminist women’s unions of the “second wave” feminist movement. CWLU was formed in 1969 and played a leading role in the women’s liberation movement in Chicago during the 1970s.

Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960-1974
Brings the 1960s alive through diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.

Women Working, 1800 - 1930
Focuses on women's role in the U.S. economy Collection includes historical publications, manuscripts, images, and more from Harvard University's library and museum collections.

LGBT Thought and Culture
Books, periodicals, and archival materials documenting LGBT political, social and cultural movements, through the 20th century up to the present.
North American Women's Drama
Full text of plays written by over 100 women from the United States and Canada, spanning Colonial times to the present.
North American Womens Letters and Diaries
Collection of women’s diaries letters, and correspondence spanning more than 300 years, covering the personal experiences of hundreds of North American women.
Women's Magazine Archive
Complete archives of consumer magazines published for a female audience, including Good Housekeeping and Ladies Home Journal. These magazines cover family life, home economics, health, careers, fashion, and culture, and provide canonical records of evolving assumptions about gender roles and cultural mores. Publications are in high-resolution color.
Women's Wear Daily Archive
Archive of Women's Wear Daily magazine, from its launch in 1910 up to six months ago, reproduced in high-resolution images. Documents the history of the fashion industry, as well as major designers, brands, retailers, and advertisers.
Detailed Guide to this resource.
Women and Social Movements, International
Conference proceedings, organization reports, publications, and websites of women's non-governmental organizations. Also includes letters, diaries, and memoirs of women active internationally since the mid-nineteenth century, as well as photographs and videos of major events and activists in the history of women’s international social movements.
Detailed Guide to this resource.
Women and Social Movements, Modern Empires Since 1820
Explores world history since 1820 through conquest, colonization, settlement, resistance, and post-coloniality, as told by women's voices.