LibGuides: Women's Studies Research: Find Historical Information

Primary Sources @ Fant Library

Beulah Culbertson Archives and Special Collections

Most of the resources in Archives and Special Collections are focused on southern women's history and leadership. Below are highlighted collections within the Archives. To access these materials, contact Archivist Derek Webb to set up a research appointment! For a full list of collections, visit the Archives and Special Collections website.

American Association of University Women Papers Finding Aid
This collection includes documents related to the Columbus, MS branch of the American Association of University Women. The documents included generally relate to the scholarship that is given every year to a graduating student from the Mississippi
University for Women, who is attending graduate school directly after. The folders include correspondence between committee members, copies of letters sent to prospective candidates, application packets from students who have applied for the scholarship, and letters that were sent to the candidate chosen. In some of the folders, there are also correspondence that shows proof of attendance and proof of transfer for the funds to the school the award winner is attending.
Emma Ody Pohl Papers
Pohl’s long tenure at Industrial Institute and College and Mississippi State College for Women was full of
implementations that would change the history of the university forever. Emma Ody Pohl, known as a
dynamic young teacher, served in the Physical Education department from 1907 until her retirement in
1955. Pohl was highly popular with students and strived to bridge the gap of the relationships between students and administrators. Under those nearly five decades, Pohl vitalized school spirit and added aesthetic value to the school through her use of ceremonies and productions.
Peyton Family Papers
Annie Coleman Peyton (1852-1898) is one of the "founding mothers" of the Industrial Institute and College along with Olivia Hastings and Sally Reneau. Papers include correspondences, financial documents, obituaries, newspaper clippings, personal narratives (and more) of Mrs. Peyton and her family members.

Books in the Circulating Collection

Hint: To find books with primary sources, like diaries, letters, speeches, contemporary news articles, or other first-hand accounts, try "sources," "personal narratives," or "correspondence" in the subject search!

Swain Collection
Books donated by southern women's historian, Dr. Martha Swain. All items in this list are available for checkout!

Archive Databases

These databases contain digital collections accessible to W students, faculty, and staff. Read the description to see if they meet your interests!

Women's Periodicals of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century, 1733-1891 This link opens in a new window
This collection contains women's-related periodicals that span the 18th through the 19th century and represent a broad range of subjects and places of publication. Because almost all of the women's periodicals by nature covered many topics, the titles included highlight radically changing perceptions of womanhood and ideas about the role of women over a period of time.
Women's Studies Archive: Women's Issues and Identities This link opens in a new window
Global in scope, the archive presents materials covering the social, political, and professional aspects of women's lives and offers a look at the roles, experiences, and achievements of women in society. A wide range of primary sources provide a close look at some of the pioneers of women's history, a deep dive into the issues that have affected women, and the many contributions they have made to society.
Archives of Sexuality & Gender This link opens in a new window
The Archives of Sexuality & Gender program provides a robust and significant collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender. Here researchers will find access to three archival collections - "LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940" Parts I and II, and "Sex and Sexuality in the 16th through 20th Centuries". With material drawn from hundreds of institutions and organizations, including both major international activist organizations and local, grassroots groups, the documents in "LGBTQ History and Culture since 1940" present important aspects of LGBTQ life in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. The archive illuminates the experiences not just of the LGBTQ community as a whole, but of individuals of different races, ethnicities, ages, religions, political orientations, and geographical locations that constitute this community. "Sex and Sexuality in the 16th through 20th Centuries" material dating back to the sixteenth century, researchers and scholars can examine how sexual norms have changed over time, health and hygiene, the development of sex education, the rise of sexology, changing gender roles, social movements and activism, erotica, and many other interesting topical areas.

Online archives

These websites are free and open to anyone, and contain online primary documents, photographs, etc. on women's studies issues.

Global Feminisms, University of Michigan
A collaborative international project that examines the history of feminist activism, women's movements and academic women's studies in China, India, Poland, and the United States. Collection includes ten videotaped oral histories of women's movement activists and women's studies scholars in each country.
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
A digital collection maintained by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. The database is browsable by title, author, fiction, poetry, biography and autobiography, and essay.
A Celebration of Women Writers
Online access to rare, out-of-print texts from a wide range of women authors. The database is searchable by dates, country, ethnicity or author.
Home Econoic Archives: Research, Tradition, and History (HEARTH) Archives
HEARTH is a searchable, digitized archive of books and journals related to the field of home economics. Materials range in date from 1829 to 1979, organized and displayed by Mann Library, Cornell University.
National Archives and Records Administration: Women's History
A guide to researching women's history through the United States National Archives. Subjects include African-American women, families and children, suffrage, temperance, women in the military, and other subject areas related to women's history.
Sally Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture
Produced by the Special Collections Library at Duke University, the online archive collections include primary source materials from the Women's Liberation Movement, African-American Women, and Civil War Women.