Library: Women's Studies Resources: Primary Sources

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What is a primary source?

The form primary sources take can vary from discipline to discipline. In literature it may be a story or poem. In the social sciences, it may be the original research data from a study. In history, a primary source document is a first-hand account or first recording of events. The historian uses a number of such primary sources to produce a secondary source.

Examples of primary source materials include letters, diaries, memoirs, speeches, contemporaneous newspaper accounts, government documents, statistics, photographs, etc. The items on this guide mainly represent a selection of historical primary sources related to women's studies. Consult the History Librarian or the Women's Studies Librarian for more information.

Primary Sources

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000 This link opens in a new window
Primary and secondary sources focus on one hundred years of the woman suffrage movement, 1830-1930, including the six volumes of The History of Woman Suffrage (1881-1922) edited by Stanton, Anthony, and other leaders of the woman suffrage movement. Also included are the proceedings of the three national conventions of anti-slavery women held in the 1830s and the woman's rights conventions held between 1848 and 1869. It also includes document projects that pose an interpretive question and provide a collection of documents that address the question to show that historical analysis is an interpretive process based on documents.
Defining Gender, 1450-1910 This link opens in a new window
This collection of primary source material from British archives explores the study and analysis of gender, leisure, and consumer culture. Of interest to those studying history, literature, sociology, education, and cultural studies from a gendered perspective.
Women and Social Movements, International - 1840 to Present This link opens in a new window
This digital archive currently includes 150,000 pages of conference proceedings, reports of international women's organizations, publications and web pages of women's non-governmental organizations, and letters, diaries, and memoirs of women active internationally since the mid-nineteenth century.

Women's Magazine Archive
A searchable archive of leading women’s interest magazines, dating from the 19th century through to the 21st.
Women's Wear Daily Archive
Women’s Wear Daily Archive is the only digitized source of the entire run of Women’s Wear Daily (also known as WWD), widely considered the ‘Wall St Journal’ of the fashion industry. From the first issue in 1910 to the present year, Women’s Wear Daily Archive preserves one of the industry’s most influential reads, tracing day-to-day news, opinion, and socio-economic trends, from runway reports to beauty product reviews. WWD is a unique record of the twentieth century US and international fashion and beauty business. Key moments in the history of the industry, as well as major designers, brands, retailers and advertisers are all covered in this publication of record.
Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World
Gifts of Speech is a non-profit project, sponsored by Sweet Briar College, dedicated to preserving and creating access to speeches by inspirational, influential and contemporary, women from around the world. As of 2017 the site hosts nearly 700 speeches from women all over the world.

Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Contains the works of more than 900 historically important African Americans authors, dating from Colonial times to present.The collection was designed as a research tool in black studies, political science, American history, music, literature, and art and contains selected issues of the Black Panther Party newspaper. When completed, it will provide more than 100,000 pages of essays, articles, speeches and interviews.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories This link opens in a new window
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories provides a personal view of what it meant to immigrate to America and Canada based upon personal narratives including letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories. North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories includes several thousand pages of Ellis Island Oral History interviews, indexed and searchable for the first time, are included. The materials begin around 1840 and extend to the present, focusing heavily on the period from 1920 to 1980.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Contains more than 150,000 pages of diaries and letters detailing experiences of more than 1,300 women, dating from Colonial times to 1950. Includes many biographies and an extensive annotated bibliography.
North American Women's Drama This link opens in a new window
Contains the works of more than 150 playwrights in over 700 plays dating from 1762 to present and is of particular interest to those interested in women's studies and feminism.
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries is the largest collection of British and Irish women's diaries and correspondence ever assembled. Spanning more than 300 years, it brings the personal experiences of nearly 500 women to researchers, students, and general readers. Particular care has been taken to index this material so that it can be thoroughly searched. Each source has been carefully chosen using leading bibliographies. The collection also includes biographies and an extensive annotated bibliography of the sources in the database.
Scottish Women Poets of the Romantic Period This link opens in a new window
Contains the works of 47 poets in more than 60 volumes of romantic poetry complete with extensive contemporary critical reviews. The site can be searched by author, poem title, or collected works title. The page entitled Related Web Sites is an excellent resource for further research
Women's Studies Archive This link opens in a new window
Women’s Studies Archive connects archival collections concerning women’s history from across the globe and from a wide range of sources. It focuses on the evolution of feminism throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and provides materials on women’s political activism and on women’s voices, from female-authored literature to women’s periodicals.

Gender Issues and Sexuality by Adrienne Wilmoth Lerner (Editor)
ISBN: 1414403259
Publication Date: 2006-08-25
These volumes of primary source documents focus on leading social issues of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. International in scope, each title is devoted to one topic: Crime and Punishment Environmental Issues Family in Society Gender Issues and Sexuality Government, Politics, and Protest Human and Civil Rights Immigration and Multiculturalism Medicine, Bioethics, and Health Social Policy Terrorism Each title contains approximately 175 full or excerpted documents---speeches, legislation, magazine and newspaper articles, essays, memoirs, letters, interviews, novels, songs, and works of art---as well as overview information that places each document in context. Entries are organized into chapters that feature a general overview of the chapter's subtopic. The following standard subheads are included in each entry: Date Source About the Author Introduction Primary Source Significance Further ResourcesAll titles contain an introduction to its topic, a chronology of major events associated with the topic, and a general index. A comprehensive subject index is included with print set purchases only.
Speaking for our lives : historic speeches and rhetoric for gay and lesbian rights (1892-2000) by Robert B. Ridinger
Call Number: HQ75.16.U6 S53 2004
ISBN: 1560231742
Publication Date: 2004-02-13
Read the words they risked everything for! This landmark volume collects more than a hundred years of the most important public rhetoric on gay and lesbian subjects. In the days when homosexuality was mentioned only in whispers, a few brave souls stood up to speak for the rights of sexual minorities.