The Lives of Women,
the Changes They Wrought:
The Sophia Smith Collection
The
Sophia Smith Collection, an internationally
recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs,
periodicals and other primary sources in women's
history, pioneered the collecting of women's
papers in the U.S.
Founded
in 1942 as the library's distinctive contribution
to the college's mission of educating women,
the collection was developed by its first director,
Margaret Storrs Grierson, and evolved from a
collection of works by women writers to a historical
research collection documenting the lives and
activities of women. In 1946 it was named in
honor of the founder of Smith College.
Today,
the Collection consists of more than 7,500 linear
feet of material in manuscript, print, and audio-visual
formats. The holdings document the historical
experience of women in the United States and
abroad from the colonial era to the present.
Subject strengths include birth control, women's
rights, suffrage, the contemporary women's movement,
U.S. women working abroad, the arts (especially
theatre), the professions (especially journalism
and social work), and middle-class family life
in nineteenth- and twentieth-century New England.
Many of these collections are rich sources of
visual, as well as manuscript and printed material.
Visit
the Sophia Smith Collection website
