The Women’s History Network blog
In April 1877, Owens College’s Court, the governing body of the only higher education establishment in Manchester, and the only incorporated college of Victoria University (Manchester), announced its decision not to accept women students. Its members believed that doing so…
In 1902, readers opening Sarah Tyson Rorer’s New Cook Book were instructed to wash vegetables carefully, keep utensils clean, and avoid serving spoiled milk. [i] To a modern audience, these directions feel routine, even obvious. At the turn of the…
The Women’s History Network 34th Annual Conference Celebrating the Centenary of the Women’s Library and 100 Years of Women’s History (1926-2026) 3-4 September 2026, LSE Library & Friends House (Euston Road) See more information and register here Our 34th annual…
We are very excited to welcome Sylvia Arthur to the Women’s History Network, who will be giving a paper titled, ‘Unleashing the Tides of Muteness: A Women’s Oral History of West Africa’. The seminar will take place on Zoom on…
My first encounter with Helen Taylor Whilst researching my M.A. dissertation on the feminist Irish nationalist, Anna Parnell, a brief reference to Helen Taylor in a newspaper piqued my interest. It was written in 1909 by the Irish nationalist Jennie…
On the 30 September 1918, sanitary inspector Dorothy Newhall wrote in her diary; ‘Terrible excitement today! Peace terms sign with Bulgaria to evacuate Serbia!’[i] Dorothy was on a brief visit to Salonika (now Thessaloniki) when she wrote this entry and…
‘Not all heroes wear capes’, a common refrain during and since the Covid pandemic, but the ideas behind that phrase go back much further and certainly played a part in the Home Front during the Second World War. Churchill instructed…
This blog post focuses on Anna Maria Garthwaite who was a silk designer in 18th century England. A silk designers’ purpose was to create designs that showed weavers what colours and decoration they should weave on their loom. Anna specialised…
Whilst preparing social media content for LGBTQ+ history month I came across the Welsh County LGBTQ+ timelines. Scanning the Newport timeline, one individual caught my eye – Amelia Vella. The timeline wrote how Amelia’s mother, Fanny Vella, was in the…