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Pembroke Center Archives

This guide provides information on the Pembroke Center Archives and the women's history collections curated and maintained therein.

History of the Feminist Theory Archive

Established in 2003, the Feminist Theory Archive documents the lives and work of notable feminist theorists and scholars of difference who examine sex and gender at the center of their theoretical study. A research collection housed at Brown University's John Hay Library, the Feminist Theory Archive is open to the public for research. 

The Feminist Theory Archive comprises personal and professional papers from pioneering scholars based in the United States and internationally. Notable scholars whose papers are available for research include Ann duCille, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Silvia Federici, Inderpal Grewal, and Hortense J. Spillers. Materials of interest are diaries, correspondence, draft writings, research files, lectures, photographs, and audiovisual recordings, among many other items.

In 2016, the Pembroke Center established the Black Feminist Theory Project. Scholars whose lives and work are applicable can now contribute their papers to the Feminist Theory Archive in the name of the initiative. 

Users can access all of the collections by viewing the Feminist Theory Archive LibGuide or guide to the archive. Researchers can also visit the John Hay Library and/or search the Brown University Library catalog using the term, "Feminist Theory Archive."

Inquiries from donors of collections and researchers should be directed to pembroke_archives@brown.edu.

Feminist Theory Archive Advisory Board

Scholars from Brown University and outside institutions provide curatorial guidance and subject expertise for terms of three years.

2018-2021

  • Mary Murphy (Chair), Nancy L. Buc '65 Pembroke Center Archivist
  • Lila Abu-Lughod, Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
  • Lauren Berlant, George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor of English, University of Chicago
  • Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor of Comparative Literature, University of California Berkeley
  • Tina Campt, Claire Tow and Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Africana and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies and Director of the Barnard Center for Research on Women, Barnard College
  • Ann duCille, Professor of English, Emerita at Wesleyan University and Founder of the Black Feminist Theory Project, Pembroke Center, Brown University
  • Inderpal Grewal, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Yale University
  • Jean E. Howard, George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
  • Ben Kafka, Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication; Comparative Literature; and History, New York University
  • Dorothy Y. Ko, Professor of History and Women's Studies, Barnard College 
  • D.A. Miller, John F. Hotchkis Professor Emeritus and Professor of the Graduate School, University of California Berkeley
  • Mimi Thi Nguyen, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and Gender and Women's Studies, University of Illinois
  • Ferris Olin, Professor Emerita of Art, Rutgers University, and Co-founder of the Institute for Women and Art
  • Kevin Quashie, Professor of English, Brown University
  • Denise Riley, Professor of Poetry and of the History of Ideas, University of East Anglia, UK
  • Chela Sandoval, Associate Professor of Chicana Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Director of the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, Professor of Comparative Literature and Italian Studies, Brown University

Collections

The following scholars have donated papers to the Feminist Theory Archive or have signed Letters of Intent to donate their papers in the future. Finding aids for processed collections can be viewed by clicking the links below.

The Pembroke Center is actively expanding the Feminist Theory Archive. Inquiries from donors and researchers should be directed to: pembroke_archives@brown.edu.