The Women’s Library in London

Written by: Genevieve Hammang

Edited by: Adina Vega

Exterior of the Women’s Library.

In honor of Women’s History Month in the U.S., it’s worth taking a closer look at some of the work that made this kind of celebration possible and the efforts that have gone into preserving that history. One remarkable example of this preservation can be seen in the Women’s Library in London, the oldest and largest library of British women’s activism.

In 1926, this library was founded by the London and National Society for Women’s Service in the wake of Parliament’s 1918 decision to grant limited voting rights to women – just two years before those rights were made equal to those of men. The library was established for two purposes: to preserve the history of the women’s suffrage movement and to serve as a resource for newly enfranchised women to participate in public life. Today, it also provides a history of British feminism from the late 19th century to the present.

The internationally renowned collection contains important writings, artifacts, and campaign ephemera from more than 500 personal and organizational archives. It includes over 60,000 books and pamphlets, 3,500 periodical titles, 500 zines, extensive press-cutting press cutting collections, and over 5,000 objects. Among these are 100 suffrage and modern campaigning banners, photos, posters, badges, textiles, and ceramics. The collection is organized by theme, including women’s suffrage and the history of the London Society for Women’s Service; interwar campaigning; prostitution and trafficking; black and Asian women; women and work; women in public life; women and the family; women and religion; women and peace campaigning; the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1970s and 80s; women and the environment; women and internationalism; the Sadd Brown Library; and the Rare Books collection, which comprise the original core of the collection.

Suffrage banner design by Mary Lowndes.

Of particular note is the UNESCO-recognized collection. These eight documents from the Women’s Library and the Parliamentary Archives include the Mary Lowndes album of suffrage banner designs and extracts from suffragette Emily Wilding Davison’s prison diary.

Visitors can also explore the Women’s Library’s many digital collections. These feature more than 1,000 interwar feminist pamphlets, the “Sisters Doing it for Themselves” oral history project interviewing leaders of organizations in women’s voluntary sector, artifacts from the Endell Street Military Hospital, the Women’s Library Poster Collection, and the “These Dangerous Women” oral history project for the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom 100th anniversary.

While currently part of the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Women’s Library has changed names thrice in its nearly 100-year history, from the Women’s Service Library to the Fawcett Library in 1953 (in honor of activist Millicent Garrett Fawcett) to the Women’s Library as of 2002.

From its inaugural opening to 1967, the Women’s Library was overseen by Vera Douie, its first full-time librarian. Under her direction, the small service library became a globally recognized resource for women’s activism. Though born to a wealthy family, she renounced her family and their wealth, preferring to live on a librarian’s wage throughout her career. Particularly in the early days, the collection was developed through donations from members and authors – and when author George Bernard Shaw refused to donate, Douie sold his rejection letter to pay for a new copy.

Vera Douie in the 1920s.

The Women’s Library in London is just one of many libraries by and for women around the world. The lessons these archives offer are important – lessons about the successes and failures of past activism and about how difficult it is to make sure a good thing gets done. They are all the more important in the midst of not just ongoing attacks on women’s rights, but a hostile government takeover by American fascists. The history of activism in the name of protecting our right to exist without oppression continues today and will continue long into the future.