Tag Archives: Collections

Archivist cataloguing update – April/ May

Sarah Cuthill, the project archivist, is sharing the process of cataloguing Ellen’s archives for this blog. This is her first report….

The first month, about half of which was spent at Ellen’s house, where the papers were in much better order than anticipated! Originally covering the floor and tables of the first floor lounge, the archive comprises journals, business files, research papers, conference papers, badges, correspondence and ephemera such as fliers and posters for relevant events. Most of the papers were in folders or in homemade magazine files made by Ellen out of washing powder boxes. Eventually I boxed the collection up into cardboard grocery boxes from our local organic shop.

Ellen quietly added extra piles of papers over the days. It was a boon, and a novelty, to have the owner of the papers there with me to explain how various organisations grew out of each other and where she was involved. As well as Ellen’s own research, there are important runs of papers relating to Women’s Aid and the Women’s Centre. We spent one morning with Ellen giving me a potted history of her life since coming to Bristol. My primary mission in these first weeks has been to survey the papers and make a quick list of what is there I did this with pencil and paper which I then typed up at home.

Two and half weeks in, we transferred the papers to my house in 18 cardboard boxes. The next step is to arrange the papers into logical categories, and to rebox them. This is to be done with the help of archive shadowers who will join in and learn about the archive as well as the archive process.

Ellen in 1973 on her commitment to the women’s movement

Leave a reply

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/90150471" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

What can history do? What does history mean to you? What does history mean to us? – Call for Contributions

Leave a reply

The Feminist Archive South have funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to create a pamphlet that explores how feminist, women’s and other radical histories shape lives, understandings of social change, collective dreams, hopes, disappointments and imaginations.

The pamphlet will be published for the end of the Ellen Malos’ Archives project in September 2013. It will be distributed to schools, further education colleges and libraries in Bristol, the South West and further afield on request (we have limited budget for distribution but can provide free copies should you want some).

We invite people to explore these questions in whatever way they wish, but please do think about the question of what history can do, what it means to individuals and what it can possibly mean to communities, collectives or whatever other way you want to envision/ interrogate/ reconfigure/ think about ‘us.’

Contributions should be written in a non-specialist language as it is envisaged that a wide range of ages and backgrounds will read the pamphlet.

We want to use the pamphlet as a space to explore the practicalities of history making – for example running discussion and memory groups, oral history projects, grassroots archives (on and offline), exhibitions and other ways individuals and communities explore, recover and use history to understand their identities, where they live or the cultures they belong to.

If you work for a feminist or women’s archives, please consider a contribution that tells us about your collection – we plan to have a directory at the back which lists archives and libraries where people can find out about history.

You may also want to consider if digital media has had an impact on the question of what history can do, and how it is shaping individuals and communities right now.

Other contributions can be in the form of

Visual art e.g., Illustrations, photos, cartoons, posters
Essays and critical writing
Philosophical reflections
Telling radical histories
Profiles of archives, collections, museums, projects, websites/ web resources
Practical ‘how to’ articles – e.g., how to use an archive, how to work with historical sources, digital archiving and information management
Creative Writing, including poetry
Interviews with interesting projects
Interviews with people in your community

All written contributions must not exceed 1500 words

All images must be sent as JPEGs 300 DPI

Deadline for contributions

15 July 2013

Please send contributions to [email protected] and contact us for further information

Archivist Shadowing Workshops – Call for Participants

Leave a reply

Ever wanted to know how an archivist catalogues a large collection?

The Feminist Archive South is offering a unique opportunity for people to shadow the project archivist as she catalogues Ellen Malos’ collection.

Ellen Malos was a key figure in the Bristol Women’s Liberation Movement. The first Women’s Centre opened in the basement of her house in 1973, and her work supporting vulnerable women has been recognised through an Honoury Doctorate at Bristol University (2006), and in the naming of the Next Link Women’s Safe House, ‘Ellen Malos House’ (12 June 2007). Ellen’s archive comprises rare historical material, including documents that have shaped some of the most significant legal and policy transformations within British history relating to gender quality.

You can attend up to four sessions with the archivist, and they will take place during weekdays in the day-time. You do not have to attend all sessions – although if you want to, this is also fine!

This is a great chance to informally learn the skills, practices and knowledge required to do archival work. You also get the chance to look at a load of interesting material about feminist history!

Even if you do not want to pursue archiving as a career, these activities will be relevant to people interested in the history of gender equality, in particular activism relating to women’s aid and violence against women.

Sessions will take place from April-June 2013. Please contact us to arrange a session.

Participation bursaries are available to cover things like childcare, travel and accommodation costs (if coming from outside of Bristol). Please let us know about this when you make an enquiry.

Next Workshop – 12 May – Exploring and Making Feminist Media

Leave a reply

In the next Feminist Archive South workshop which is taking place on Sunday 12 May at MShed from 1-5pm, we will be exploring and making feminist media.

The representation of women in the media remains a hot topic for feminists today. From 2008-2011 the Bristol Feminist Network undertook major research which can be accessed here.

As well as critiquing existing representations, feminists have a long history of making their own media. From Sylvia Pankhurst’s Women’s Dreadnought, to the multitude of contemporary feminist blogs, women have always made their own media to communicate political ideas and create community.

In the workshop on the 12 May we will be focusing on printed media holdings of the Feminist Archive, which include numerous magazines and pamphlets from the Women’s Liberation Movement, examples of which are included below.

As well as learning about the aesthetics, practices and ideas discussed in WLM media, we will also make our own zines and pamphlets in the second part of the workshop.

So come prepared to write, draw, cut, paste and discuss the history of feminist media making!

All welcome!

Greenham Materials

Leave a reply

This week we were visited by Conni Rosewarne who is filming parts of the archive for her third year university project.

Conni was particularly interested in material relating to Greenham Common, as both her grandmother and mother protested at the camp. Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, established in Sept 1981, was a protest against the presence of nuclear cruise missiles on British land. Missiles were removed from the camp in 1991, but women still protested there until 2000. For more information about the camp, please visit here and here.

Piece of the Greenham Fence - green wire on a white background

Part of fence at Greenham Common

This photo is a piece of the fence, which women used to cut into during actions.

Triangular shawl with different coloured webs sewn together

Shawl collectively made by women at Greenham Common

This photo is of a collectively made shawl by Greenham Women which depicts a number of spider webs sewn together. Before the world wide web connected people across the world, women at Greenham used the metaphor of a spiders web to imagine global connections between peace activists.

Conni films the shawl and piece of the fence, which are placed on the table in Special Collections at Bristol University

Brighton University Student Conni Rosewarne films the shawl and piece of the fence for her university project

Conni in action! She has promised to send us her film when it has been made – so watch this space!

The fence, from a different angle

Another close-up of the fence – a highly emotive part of our collection. If you want to see some amazing pictures of Greenham, visit Cary Welling‘s site.

Workshop this Tuesday 16 April and other information

Leave a reply

This week is the beginning of the Feminist Archive South’s workshop programme. The first workshop is taking place this Tuesday 16 April 7-9.30 pm at MShed. All welcome but please contact us to let us know you are coming!

Program for Women’s Liberation first read at the Ruskin Conference in 1970 – one of the items we will be looking at in the workshop

We’ve also updated information about the workshop sessions taking place later in the year…..

Sunday 12^th May – 1 to 5pm – We are joined by Hannah Little, ex-archivist at the Glasgow Women’s Library to explore the art and science of archiving.

Thursday 23^rd May – 7 to 9.30pm – Focus on the content of Ellen Malos’ archives.

Sunday 9^th June – 1 to 5pm – Members of South West and South Wales Women’s History Network will be facilitating this session. They will provide insight into how historians interpret historical sources, using the Ellen Malos archive.

Tuesday 18^th June – 7 to 9.30pm – Exploring the Feminist Archive South’s Greenham Common archive.

Thursday 27^th June – 7 to 9.30pm - The Bristol Feminist Network will help us to explore the continuities and difference between contemporary campaigns and the activism of the Women’s Liberation Movement.

Saturday 6^th July – 1 to 5pm – Folk legend and co-author of My Song is My Own Frankie Armstrong will talk about the process of recovering women’s musical folk traditions. Followed by a good old feminist singalong!

Saturday 20^th July – 1 to 5pm – Special Focus on the history of Women’s Aid in Bristol. Ellen Malos, Gill Hague, Nicola Harwin and others will facilitate this special session on the development of Women’s Aid.

Work on cataloging Ellen’s archive begins!

Leave a reply

This week the work to catalogue Ellen’s archives have begun in earnest. Here a few photos from the very early stages. As you can see, Ellen is already fairly organised, and has over the years cannily used washing powder boxes as a file storage solution.

Ellen was also showing off some of the banners for campaigns and groups she was involved in, including this rather fetching sash.

If you want to get involved and help the project archivist organise the material, please contact us. Its a great opportunity to learn how a collection is catalogued, and you get some hands on experience doing the work. We are particularly looking for people to get stuck in now, so don’t hesitate if you are interested!