Friends of The Women's Library

Black and white front page of journal, Opportunity dated 1921 - contents table and text.

Image of journal The Townswoman cover with black, red, green border

NEW on our Digital Library: 'Opportunity', journal of the Federation of Women Civil Servants, and 'Townswoman', journal of the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds are now available to search and research women's activism.
digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/...
#thewomenslibraryat100

Taking Photos of the First Women's Liberation Conference What was it like to take photos at Britain's first Women's Liberation conference? Chandan Fraser shares her memories and pictures with us.

OTD in 1970, the first Women's Liberation Conference was held in Oxford. A watershed in the British feminist movement, attendees discussed equal pay, 24-hour childcare and free contraception.

In this piece from the archive, Chandan Fraser shares her memories of the event.

Congratulations to Fiona McCallion @lsehy.bsky.social for winning our LSE MSc dissertation prize. Her thesis was 'Women, Solidarity and Politics: the Chile Solidarity Campaign
and the Women’s Movement in Britain, 1973-1982'.

Aliss Womens History Showcase 2026 ALISS  Womens History Month showcase 2026 March 19th  2-4 pm approx. final programme to be confirmed This special event aims to showcase the relationship between material culture and women’s…

ALISS womens History online show case- 19th march (pm)
alissnet.com/aliss-womens...
theme material culture and activism. details on website. Presenters include:
Elizabeth Crawford @womenshistnet.bsky.social @scotsuffragette.bsky.social @womenslibrary.bsky.social @fotwl.bsky.social

Scientific Aspirations and Normative Gender Roles: Indian Women in Science – Nilakshi Das Women’s participation in Indian science since the mid-twentieth century is often framed through celebratory narratives of progress, characterised by increased educational access, rising numbers of …

New blog 📝 Nilakshi Das examines Indian women's participation in science, and the balance between aspiration and normative gender roles revealed by her life history interviews with four Indian women scientists of the post-war era.

Read the full piece here: womenshistorynetwork.org/indian-women...

Thank you Henrietta for sharing your research on Christiana Herringham. The talk was made all more special with a look at some of the suffrage banners in The Women's Library. Wonderful!

New on our noticeboard - post by member, Lizzie Broadbent, on 'Women, libraries and protests':
friendsofthewomenslibrary.org.uk/2026/02/12/w...

The British Women’s Suffrage Movement in 100 Objects: a material history – FORTHCOMING IN JULY I had no thought of producing another book when, one day in October 2023, I opened up my laptop, ready to watch an online auction mounted by Bonhams. This Votes for Women sale was devoted to suffra…

The British Women's Suffrage Movement in 100 Objects: a material history - FORTHCOMING IN JULY
womanandhersphere.com/2026/02/09/t...

Women's Grassroots Activism - Toolkit 100+ Launch (IWD 2026) Launch of the 100+ Toolkit for Women's Grassroots Activism. A 2026 IWD Event hosted by London South Bank University.

📢 Delighted to announce launch of @ukri.org #WomensGrassrootsActivism #Activism100+Toolkit 🧰 to mark #IWD2026. Free event on Tues 10 March, 5.30pm (via Zoom). Book your spot via link 👇. @womensinstitute.bsky.social @soroptimistgbi.bsky.social @womenshistnet.bsky.social @whaireland.bsky.social 📢

Our talk is a week today. There'll be an opportunity to see some suffrage banners. You can have a look at them here on LSE digital Library: digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/...

The Women's Library at 100 | LSE Library Find out about the various activities planned to celebrate 100 years since The Women's Library was founded.

We are celebrating 100 years of The Women’s Library, the UK’s oldest & largest book, archive & museum collection on the history of women's movement. Join us for an exhibition and year of FREE special events to mark its memory and continue its legacy. www.lse.ac.uk/library/twl100
@fotwl.bsky.social

The 1921 census required every household to identify a 'head' - assumed to be a husband - but it offered no way to record same-sex relationships. So how did women and gender non- conforming people record their lives? Often subversively, as some examples show 🧵 (1/6)

#LGBTplusHM
#lgbthm26

Our next hybrid talk is on 19 Feb at 2.30pm at LSE Library. Henrietta McBurney's talk is 'Christiana Herringham: suffragist and suffragist patron'. For those in person, there will be a chance to see some of the banners designed by Mary Lowndes. To come, email contact@friendsofthewomenslibrary.org.uk

image showing ceiling with glass roundel, light, and people at the end of a grand room with portraits on the red walls. Chairs arranged in lecture style in front.

A belated thank you to everyone who joined us at our one-day event to mark 100 years of The Women's Library.

We are planning other talks through the year which will be posted on our website. friendsofthewomenslibrary.org.uk

📣 Call for Papers!

Join us for the Women’s History Network Annual Conference, celebrating 100 years of The Women’s Library.

Open to scholars, independent researchers & heritage practitioners.

Full info: womenshistorynetwork.org/whn-annual-c...

Deadline: 29 March 2026

#WomensHistory #GenderHist

Twentieth-Century histories of aging, gender and work - CRASSH Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

We're hosting a very special roundtable in Cambridge and online on Friday 6th Feb featuring Alissa Klots, Christina von Hodenberg, Catriona Kelly & myself in conversation about work, gender & ageing in post-war Europe. To attend in person or via Zoom register here: www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/49412/

For anyone interested, Pauline Gower’s book about her life as a pilot (published 1937) is available (see link). She grew up in Tunbridge Wells, Kent and was an aviation pioneer.

Free online talk

@womenshistnet.bsky.social @fotwl.bsky.social @ukahn.bsky.social @sslh.bsky.social
#HistNursing #womenshistory #feminism

Copies of Celebrating Women in Legal History, edited by Lorren Eldridge, Emily Ireland and Caroline Derry. The blue and purple cover shows a door opening onto bookshelves.

Table of contents, showing chapters by Jennifer Aston, Christine Anne George, Anne Logan, Lisa Cowan, Nina Krsljanin, and Valentina Cvetkovic-Dordevic.

Table of contents, showing chapters by Maria Fletcher, Charlie Peevers, Seonaid Stevenson-McCabe, and Deborah Siddoway.

It's published! Histories of women legal historians, edited with @loreldridge.bsky.social and @dremilyireland.bsky.social

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/celebrati...

image of heart shaped brooch on screen behind speaker at womens library conference. people seated.

Wonderful event to celebrate the centenary of the womens library @lselibrary.bsky.social organised by @fotwl.bsky.social
@womanssphere.bsky.social
amazing images like this from her forthcoming book

@lsegender.bsky.social @womenshistnet.bsky.social @scotsuffragette.bsky.social

So lovely to be here at @lselibrary.bsky.social for @fotwl.bsky.social celebration of 100 years of #WomensLibrary. Anne Summers is giving a great history of the library including shout out to David Doughan who has helped so many historians of women in their work over the years, including me ❤️.

Interesting re-appraisal of concept & use of militancy by female activists post suffrage in Britain with focus on Six Point Group by @kellybosomworth.bsky.social here at @fotwl.bsky.social event celebrating 💯 #WomensLibrary. Six Point Group archive is held at @lselibrary.bsky.social #WomensLibrary

The always fab @carmenmangion.bsky.social now speaking on religious women & feminist activism in inter-war years via archive sources held at @lselibrary.bsky.social #WomensLibrary. Range of campaigns & importance of cross organisational collaboration emphasised. @fotwl.bsky.social

@womanssphere.bsky.social is now speaking about her forthcoming book on the British Suffrage Movement in 100 Objects at @fotwl.bsky.social conference today. 49 of the 100 objects come from @lselibrary.bsky.social #WomensLibrary.

Wonderful to see #badges feature in @womanssphere.bsky.social forthcoming book British Suffrage Movement in 100 Objects, including for Ireland. #WomensLibrary 💯 @fotwl.bsky.social

Wonderful end to a great day celebrating 💯 #WomensLibrary at @lselibrary.bsky.social @fotwl.bsky.social with Sally Alexander & Mary Evans reflecting on their interactions with its collections & archivists. It shaped their scholarship & feminism & this in turn influenced those coming in their wake.

& if interested in the #SixPointGroup a cheeky plug for my article in @womenshistoryrev.bsky.social which uses amazing archive of its Chair Hazel Hunkins-Hallinan, who insisted the Group’s archive & her own personal archive, was donated to the #WomensLibrary. Free access to all 😊.

Beginning a year of celebrating The Women's Library first 100 years! @fotwl.bsky.social @whaireland.bsky.social @wsguk.bsky.social @womenshistnet.bsky.social @ifrwh.bsky.social @ihrwomen.bsky.social @historyworkshop.org.uk @jwomenshistory.bsky.social @catholicrs.bsky.social @achahistory.bsky.social

Very insightful paper by @carolinederry.bsky.social here at @fotwl.bsky.social event to celebrate 💯 of @lselibrary.bsky.social #WomensLibrary on legal campaigns & debates around the age of consent & equal moral standard. Intersections with class, gender, age & sexuality highlighted are fascinating.

Lovely to see so many friends with @fotwl.bsky.social for The Womens library centenary conference #WomensHistory

Anne Summers chairing