The History of Women collection is a comprehensive collection of literature by and about American and European women from the 1700s through 1920. The microfilm collection consists of books, pamphlets, periodicals, manuscripts and photographs. Included in the collection are resources on topics such as:
The History of Women collection is based primarily on works found in the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, located at Radcliffe College, and the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College.
Finding History of Women Materials
The library's Quick Search can be used for author, title, subject and keyword searches. To expedite your search, limit to Library Catalog using the menu on the left hand side of the Quick Search results screen. By entering a keyword and the words "history of women" a person may identify the items in the collection that pertain to that topic.
To find the microfilm of the item you are interested in, make sure you have the title and the reel and item numbers.
The printed Guide to the Microform Collection is another way to fully utilize the History of Women microfilm collection. It includes a reel guide summary, an alphabetical main-entry index, a periodicals title list, a subject/name index, and a name index to the photographs. Within the guide, a person may find the reel number and/or the item number for the required material. Note that the 546 photographs contained on reel 963 are not indexed in the library's online catalog, so this index is the only way to identify those items.
Many of the books indexed in this collection are now available online via collections such as HathiTrust and Google Books. Try a Google search for the book by its title to see if you can find a scanned version online.
The History of Women reels are located in several file cabinets in the microform area. The main collection reels are numbered first then the reel numbers start over with the periodicals. Please feel free to ask for assistance in locating items and setting up the microform readers. Operating instructions are posted next to the microform readers for your convenience.
You can print from HPER Materials by sending a print job to be retrieved from library printers. Costs for printing are posted near the printers on the first floor of the library.
Please place the microfilm in the small return box on the table next to the microform readers
We invite questions and/or comments and look forward to hearing from you. Contact the Ask Us Desk for more information.