Modern American Women

Back to Course Main Page

LINKS OF INTEREST FOR RESEARCH AND CURIOSITY:

Recently, there has been an explosion in the availability of digitized primary sources on the internet. This will help you immensely in thinking about topics for and researching your primary-source based research paper. Three excellent scholarly starting points for sources, links and guides to researching American women's history on the web are:
American Women's History: A Research Guide and Multimedia Sites in Women's History. Both are maintained by Ken Middleton at Middle Tennessee State University.

University of Wisconsin Libraries

Duke University, Rare Books, Manuscripts and Special Collections

For more an index of Women's History archival collections, organized by state, see http://www.lib.utsa.edu/Archives/links1.htm#CT

Information on area state resources form this site are listed below.

AREA ARCHIVES:

You might also consider visiting some of the regional/area archives with fantastic collections in American Women's history:

MASSACHUSETTS

Congregational Library The archives holds materials of women's organizations within the Congregational, Congregational Christian and United Church of Christ tradition throughout the world. The majority of the collections relate to missionary work.
Mount Holyoke Archives and Special Collections Papers and manuscripts reveal the history of one of earliest women's colleges in the U.S.. Included are personal papers of alumnae, faculty, trustees and presidents, including Mary Woolley.
Radcliffe College Archives The archives houses official records, student records, alumnae collections and other materials that document the history of the college both prior to its joining with Harvard and after.
Radcliffe College, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America The largest repository of women's history to document the public and private lives of women. Subject areas of note are women's rights and suffrage, social and labor reform, family history, and women in the professions,government service, and political movements. The library holds the papers of Betty Friedan, Julia Ward Howe, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and others, as well as the records of many Boston area women's organizations. This gopher also links travelers to a large number of other repositories through the link to Johns Hopkins.
Simmons College Archives and Special Collections Extensive holdings of the personal papers of educators, nurses, social workers, and other professionals. There are also some records from women's organizations. Worth a look.
Smith College Archives Institutional records from the 19th and 20th century document the college, as well as, women's war work, education and student life from 1860- present.
Smith College, Sophia Smith Collection The oldest repository of women's history. Over 5,000 linear feet of material about women in the U.S. from the late 18th century to the present. Some of the subjects documented are birth control, women's rights and international work of American women. Collections include the papers of Margaret Sanger, and the records of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
The Wellesley College Archives As the institutional repository for Wellesley College--a women's college--this archives holds material documenting women and education. Details about the manuscript collections are sketchy, but they include some papers of past college presidents, faculty and alumnae.

Consider also the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester for pre-1876 sources.

RHODE ISLAND

Brown University, Christine Dunlap Farnham Archives in the John Hay Library contains records of women's progress at Brown, from records from 1891 with the Women's College to Pembroke College (1928) to the merger of Pembroke and Brown in 1971. In addition to official records, the collection includes diaries and oral histories of alumnae. No on-line finding aids available on this site.

CONNECTICUT

Connecticut State Library This site really highlights how you can ferret out women's history from run-of-the-mill government documents. In addition to lots of pointers on where to look, this page highlights particular collections that might be of interest, for example the Women's Committee of the Connecticut State Council of Defense and the Connecticut Order of Women Legislators. In addition to government records, holdings include: diaries, letters, and organizational materials too.
University of Connecticut, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, Archives and Special Collections Two areas of strength concerning women within this repository are nursing and the modern women's movement. Documents concerning the women's movement are within the alternative politics and culture collection, and several collections related to nursing and nurses are in the archives of nursing leadership.
Yale Divinity Library, Special Collections The scope of this repository is Protestant missionary work and American clergy and evangelists. Numerous women who were missionaries, especially to China, have their papers here. In addition women are represented in the records of organizations such as the Asian Women's Institute and the Church Missionary Society.