Schlesinger Library

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Library building of the Schlesinger Library

The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America , or Schlesinger Library for short , is a research library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study from Harvard University in Boston , Massachusetts .

Library

history

Maud Wood Park

The library's foundation stone was laid on August 26, 1943, when Maud Wood Park , former Radcliffe College student and suffragette , donated her Woman's Rights Collection, a collection of books, papers, and memorabilia of women reformers, to the college. From this a steadily growing research library developed, which was called "Women's Archives". In 1965 it was renamed after Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. , Professor of History at Harvard University , and his wife, Elizabeth Bancroft Schlesinger , a well-known feminist, who had both promoted the development of the library.

During the second wave of the women's movement in the 1960s and 1970s, the library's holdings grew very quickly as feminist activists created new documents and publications. In 1999 Radcliffe College was integrated into Harvard University as the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study .

The former library building of Radcliffe College, in which the Schlesinger Library is housed, was completely renovated in 2004-2005 and converted into a state-of-the-art facility with a spacious and well-equipped reading room. In 2018 the library celebrated its 75th anniversary. The building has been closed since November for another renovation that will last until September 2019. [obsolete] The outsourced holdings can be accessed in an external reading room by prior arrangement.

purpose

The Schlesinger library is used to document the lives and actions of women. Her wealth of resources shows the diversity of the activities of women in the United States and abroad from the early 19th century to the present.

The library also organizes exhibitions with changing focuses on this topic.

Stocks

Title page of an Antislavery Festival report
Poster on women's suffrage
Photographer Jessie Tarbox Beals with her camera

The Schlesinger Library houses material from the founding of the United States to the present day. The holdings include more than 3,200 manuscript collections, 100,000 volumes of books and magazines as well as films, photos and audiovisual material.

While the focus of the collection is on American women, the library has an abundance of printed and manuscript materials covering subjects from around the globe due to extensive travel and overseas visits by American women. These include, for example, letters from early missionaries in China, activist reports on the “Women's Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice” and the global speeches and writings of Shirley Graham Du Bois .

Detailed records of the library's manuscript holdings as well as books and journals can be found in the Harvard library's online catalog HOLLIS (Harvard On-Line Library Information System). The catalog record contains a description of the item or collection and other important information such as: B. the location outside the library building or access restrictions. Researchers can learn more about the manuscript collections by consulting the Schlesinger Library's Research Guides . Research librarians can be contacted through Ask a Schlesinger Librarian .

Manuscripts

There are more than 2,500 unique manuscript collections from individuals, families and organizations. Women's rights movements in the past and present, feminism, health, sexuality, social reforms and the education of women and girls are central themes in the manuscript collection. The ordinary lives of women and families, and the struggles and triumphs of women who have achieved something, are well documented in diaries and other personal records. Many collections, such as the papers of Charlotte Perkins Gilman , Pauli Murray, and the National Organization for Women records deal with political, organizational, and economic issues. In 1972 the National Organization for Women chose the Schlesinger Library as an archive for their files. The collection has become one of the largest and one of the most heavily used by researchers.

Books and magazines

More than 80,000 printed volumes include both academic monographs and popular works. These cover topics such as women's rights, women and work, women's health, women of color , comparative material on women in other cultures, works on women in art and music, women and family, feminist and anti-feminist theory and lesbian writings. Hundreds of magazine titles, including popular magazines like Ladies' Home Journal , Ebony or Seventeen , highlight domestic issues, leisure activities, etiquette, fashion and nutrition.

The library has two important special collections: A culinary collection of over 15,000 books - from five centuries and international cuisine - is one of the most important in the world. This collection also contains the writings of some famous female chefs and food writers such as MFK Fisher , Julia Child and Elizabeth David . Radcliffe College's archives from 1879 to 1999 - including papers from professors, students, and alumnae - abundantly document the history of women in higher education.

Photographs and audiovisual media

More than 90,000 photographs, from casual snapshots to the work of professional photographers, form a unique visual record of private and public life. Audio tapes, video tapes and recordings as well as transcripts of narrated stories complement the documentation of the story of women's lives with the “soundtrack”.

The Schlesinger library houses the recordings of the "Black Women Oral History Project", which were recorded between 1976 and 1981. During the project, with the support of the Schlesinger Library, 72 African American women were interviewed who had made a significant contribution to American society in the first half of the 20th century.

Web links

Commons : Schlesinger Library  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b You Are Here - Schlesinger Library - About the Library ( English ) Archived from the original on May 5, 2012. Retrieved on December 4, 2018.
  2. ^ About the Library. In: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study website. Retrieved December 7, 2018 .
  3. ^ Exhibitions. In: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study website. Retrieved December 7, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Collections. In: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study website. Retrieved December 7, 2018 .
  5. ^ Records of The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, 1942-2017. In: Harvard Library website. Retrieved December 7, 2018 .
  6. ^ Schlesinger Library Research Guides. In: Harvard Library website. Retrieved December 7, 2018 .
  7. ^ Ask a Schlesinger Librarian. In: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study website. Retrieved December 7, 2018 .
  8. ^ Records of the National Organization for Women. In: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study website. Retrieved December 7, 2018 .
  9. ^ Black Women Oral History Project Interviews, 1976–1981. In: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study website. Retrieved December 7, 2018 .

Coordinates: 42 ° 22 '32.7 "  N , 71 ° 7' 23.2"  W.