LibGuides: Gender + Sexuality Studies: Primary Source Databases at Brown

Primary Source Databases for Feminist + Gender Studies

*This curated list of primary source databases feature resources that are available with your Brown login.

*These collections include a range of online primary sources and archival collections in multiple formats such as diaries, manuscripts, correspondence, images, sound, and more.

*Explore each interface individually to discover primary sources along with supplemental essays, timelines, and more.

*See the full list of subscription databases at A-Z Databases

Black Women Writers This link opens in a new window
Black Women Writers presents 100,000 pages of literature and essays on feminist issues, written by authors from Africa and the African diaspora.
Everyday Life & Women in America c1800-1920 This link opens in a new window
A primary source collection for the study of American social, cultural, and popular history, 1800-1920
Everyday Life & Women in America c.1800-1920 showcases unique primary source material for the study of American social, cultural, and popular history in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Feminism in Cuba: Nineteenth Through Twentieth Century Archival Documents This link opens in a new window
1898-1958; this collection is a study on feminists and the feminist movement in Cuba between Cuban independence and the end of the Batista regime.
1898-1958; this collection is a study on feminists and the feminist movement in Cuba between Cuban independence and the end of the Batista regime. In the decades following its independence from Spain in 1898, Cuba adopted the most progressive legislation for women in the western hemisphere. The documents in this collection, most of which are in Spanish, fall into three categories: works by feminists about feminists and their causes, works by men on the status of women, and literary works by feminist writers that illustrate or discuss the condition of women.

Gerritsen Collection - Women's History Online This link opens in a new window
This collection is considered to be the greatest single source for the study of women's history in the world, with materials spanning four centuries and 15 languages. The broad scope of Gerritsen Online allows scholars to trace the evolution of feminism within a single country, as well as the impact of one country's movement on those of the others.
This collection is considered to be the greatest single source for the study of women's history in the world, with materials spanning four centuries and 15 languages. The broad scope of Gerritsen Online allows scholars to trace the evolution of feminism within a single country, as well as the impact of one country's movement on those of the others. Gerritsen Online consists of two segments: the Periodical Series and the Monograph Language Series.
Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
Brings together 105,000 pages of the personal writings of women of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online This link opens in a new window
Nineteenth Century Collections Online is focusing on primary source collections of the long nineteenth century.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online is focusing on primary source collections of the long nineteenth century, with archives releasing incrementally beginning in spring 2012. The nineteenth century was the first great age of industrialization and technological innovation. It was an age of political revolution and reform, nationalism and nation building, the expansion of empire and colonialism, growing literacy and education, and the flowering of culture both popular and high. It was an age that witnessed the development of the power-driven printing press and the massive explosion of written material that dwarfs the output of the centuries that preceded it. Any undertaking that attempts to synthesize the vast array of nineteenth-century content may be at best only provisionally comprehensive.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window
A primary source collection that includes the diaries and letters of 1,325 women, colonial era
Colonial-1950; ongoing. When complete, the collection will include approximately 150,000 pages of published letters and diaries from individuals writing from Colonial times to 1950, plus 7,000 pages of previously unpublished materials. Includes materials from more than 1,000 sources, including journal articles, pamphlets, newsletters, monographs, and conference proceedings.
Perdita Manuscripts, 1500-1700 This link opens in a new window
Contains manuscripts that were written or compiled by women in the British Isles, 16th-17th centuries.
1500-1700; the manuscripts in this site were written or compiled by women in the British Isles during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and they have been sourced from archives and libraries across the United Kingdom and the USA. One of the key attractions of the Perdita Manuscripts is that it brings together little-known material from widely scattered locations.
Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin: Beyond the Daughters of Bilitis This link opens in a new window
This collection documents many decades (1966-1984) of Phyllis Lyon & Del Martin’s work for and leadership of the LGBT movement and the women’s rights movement both in San Francisco and nationally. Included are minutes, correspondence, and notes related to their work with the ACLU and other organizations.
This collection documents many decades (1966-1984) of Phyllis Lyon & Del Martins work for and leadership of the LGBT movement and the womens rights movement both in San Francisco and nationally. Included are minutes, correspondence, and notes related to their work with the ACLU, the San Francisco Coalition for Human Rights, the Commission on Crime Control and Violence Protection, the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women, and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Lyon and Martin were also central to the struggle that pushed the National Organization for Women to an understanding of the centrality of the freedom to sexual expression.

South Asia Open Archives: Women & Gender
Primary and secondary materials (including monographs, pamphlets, and magazines) by, for and about women, and important issues related to their lives and roles in society, including on women's education, health, and religion.

Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000: Scholar's Edition This link opens in a new window
Women and Social Movements in the United States brings together books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies, documenting the multiplicity of women's reform activities.
Women and Social Movements in the United States brings together books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies, documenting the multiplicity of women's reform activities. The resource, which examines perspectives on women's social movements from Colonial times to the-present, was developed by Thomas Dublin and Kathryn Kish Sklar of the State University of New York at Binghamton in an internationally-renown website of the same name.
Women in the National Archives This link opens in a new window
A finding aid and repository of primary source documents about suffrage in Britain, the Empire and colonial territories.
This collection consists of two distinct elements: a finding aid to women's studies resources in The National Archives and original documents on the suffrage question in Britain, the Empire and colonial territories. The original documents cover the campaign for women's suffrage in Britain, 1903-1928 and the granting of women's suffrage in colonial territories, 1930-1962.
Women, War, and Society, 1914-1918 This link opens in a new window
Collection of primary source materials on the First World War brought together in the Imperial War Museum, London. These unique documents - charity and international relief reports, pamphlets, photographs, press cuttings, magazines, posters, correspondence, minutes, records, diaries, memoranda, statistics, circulars, regulations and invitations.
The First World War had a revolutionary and permanent impact on the personal, social and professional lives of all women. Their essential contribution to the war in Europe is fully documented in this definitive collection of primary source materials brought together in the Imperial War Museum, London. These unique documents - charity and international relief reports, pamphlets, photographs, press cuttings, magazines, posters, correspondence, minutes, records, diaries, memoranda, statistics, circulars, regulations and invitations - are published here for the first time in fully-searchable form, along with interpretative essays from leading scholars. Together these documents form an indispensable resource for the study of 20th-Century social, political, military and gender history.
Women Writers Online This link opens in a new window
Provides access to full transcriptions of texts, with a focus on materials that are rare or inaccessible, 1400-1850.
1400-1850; full text collection of writing by women in English with currently about 200 texts and growing. Includes a wide range of subjects and genres, and all texts are transcribed in full, including front and back matter.
Women's Studies Archive: Womens Issues and Identities This link opens in a new window
This collection traces the path of women’s issues from the past to present—pulling primary sources from manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and more.
As the first in the Womens Studies Archive, this collection traces the path of womens issues from the past to-presentpulling primary sources from manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and more. It captures the foundation of womens movements, struggles and triumphs, and provides researchers with valuable insights. As a comprehensive academic-level archival resource, Womens Studies Archive: Womens Issues and Identities will focus on the social, political, and professional achievements of women throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century. Topics include: the history of feminist theory and activism; domestic culture; lay and ordained church women; women in industry; women's sexuality and gender expression; womens education; womens movement; womens health and mental health; women and law; women and the control of their bodies; and womens roles and interactions within society.

Women's Suffrage and Equal Rights Collection
Collection of primary source material from the Scripps College Library, available through JSTOR.

Primary Source Databases for LGBTQ + Sexuality Studies

Archives of Sexuality and Gender: International Perspectives on LGBTQ Activism and Culture
Examines diversity in underrepresented areas of the world such as southern Africa and Australia, highlighting cultural and social histories, struggles for rights and freedoms, explorations of sexuality, and organizations and key figures in LGBTQ history.
Archives of Sexuality and Gender: L'Enfer de la Bibliothèque nationale de France
Part of the Gale collection Archives of Sexuality and Gender. The collection was created in the 1830s to protect and isolate works that were considered contrary to the morals of the time. Enfer is made up of more than 2,400 literary works, manuscripts, engravings, lithographs, and photographs, from the 1530s to the 2010s.

Archives of Sexuality and Gender: LGBTQ History and Culture Since 1940 This link opens in a new window
1940-2014; The archive illuminates the experiences of the LGBTQ community. Historical records of political and social organizations founded by LGBTQ individuals are featured, as well as publications by and for lesbians and gays, and extensive coverage of governmental responses to the AIDS crisis.
1940-2014; with material drawn from hundreds of institutions and organizations, including both major international activist organizations and local, grassroots groups, the documents in the Archives of Sexuality & Gender: 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. Historical records of political and social organizations founded by LGBTQ individuals are featured, as well as publications by and for lesbians and gays, and extensive coverage of governmental responses to the AIDS crisis. The archive also contains personal correspondence and interviews with numerous LGBTQ individuals, among others. The archive includes gay and lesbian newspapers from more than 35 countries, reports, policy statements, and other documents related to gay rights and health, including the worldwide impact of AIDS, materials tracking LGBTQ activism in Britain from 1950 through 1980, and more.

Archives of Sexuality and Gender: Sex and Sexuality, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century
Part of the Gale collection: Archives of Sexuality and Gender. Made up of more than five thousand rare and unique books covering sex, sexuality, and gender issues across the sciences and humanities and throughout history.

Defining Gender 1450-1910 This link opens in a new window
A collection of British primary source material for research and teaching, 1450-1910.
Defining Gender provides access to a vast body of original British source material that will enrich the teaching and research experience of those studying history, literature, sociology and education from a gendered perspective.
Gender: Identity and Social Change This link opens in a new window
A primary source collection, documenting the changing representations and lived experiences of gender roles and relations, 19th century-present
19th century-present; essential primary sources documenting the changing representations and lived experiences of gender roles and relations.
In Response to the AIDS Crisis: Records of the National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 1983-1994 This link opens in a new window
Primary source collection documenting the National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 1983-1994.
1983-1994; briefing books, hearing and meeting transcripts, reports, and press clippings document the activities of the National Commission on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin: Beyond the Daughters of Bilitis This link opens in a new window
This collection documents many decades (1966-1984) of Phyllis Lyon & Del Martin’s work for and leadership of the LGBT movement and the women’s rights movement both in San Francisco and nationally. Included are minutes, correspondence, and notes related to their work with the ACLU and other organizations.
This collection documents many decades (1966-1984) of Phyllis Lyon & Del Martins work for and leadership of the LGBT movement and the womens rights movement both in San Francisco and nationally. Included are minutes, correspondence, and notes related to their work with the ACLU, the San Francisco Coalition for Human Rights, the Commission on Crime Control and Violence Protection, the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women, and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Lyon and Martin were also central to the struggle that pushed the National Organization for Women to an understanding of the centrality of the freedom to sexual expression.
Sex and Sexuality This link opens in a new window
Adam Matthew collection that explores changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender identities and sexual behaviours throughout the twentieth century.
This collection explores changing attitudes towards human sexuality, gender identities and sexual behaviours throughout the twentieth century.
Shoah Foundation Institute Visual History Archive This link opens in a new window
Between 1994 and 1999, the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation -- now the USC Shoah Foundation Institute -- interviewed nearly 52,000 survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust, including the gay community.
Between 1994 and 1999, the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation -- now the USC Shoah Foundation Institute -- interviewed nearly 52,000 survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust. The Institute interviewed Jewish survivors, homosexual survivors, Jehovah's Witness survivors, liberators and liberation witnesses, political prisoners, rescuers and aid providers, Roma and Sinti (Gypsy) survivors, survivors of Eugenics policies, and war crimes trials participants. The complete archive of these testimonies, which were videotaped in 56 countries and in 32 languages, is now available to Brown students, faculty, and staff.

Finding and Using Microforms at the Rockefeller Library

Some research collections at the Brown University Library are available for use only on microform -- a pre-digital technology for preserving, distributing and storing research materials on film, fiche or opaque card stock. Microform collections require the use of a specialized machine reader which magnifies the image so as to render it readable.

Microform collections and machine readers are available to researchers on Level B of the Rockefeller Library. A state of the art machine reader on Level B allows researchers to capture an image either as a printed paper copy, or as a digital image which can be stored on a USB memory stick. Paper copies can be charged to your Brown card; for digital copies, you will need to bring your own memory stick.

Selected Microfilm Sets: Women's Studies

Herstory
A comprehensive collection of materials produced by and about the womens movement. Assembled from the International Womens History (Periodical) Archive at the Womens History Research Center, this publication includes 821 newsletters, journals, and newspapers on womens issues produced by civic, professional, religious, and political groups. Most of the material dates from the crucial years 1968-1974, with some titles dating as far back as 1956. 90 microfilm reels. See Microindex for guide to the reels.
Herstory: Index
Index to the set of microfilm reels.
Minerva: Revista Quincenal Dedicada a la Mujer de Color
1888-1890, 1910-1915. Minerva began a two-year publication in 1888, two years after the emancipation of slaves in Cuba and ten years before national independence. It was an extraordinary and unique journal, as it demonstrated that a middle-class strata of free black women were educated, involved in nation building, and devoted to people of color. In storage: ask at Rock Circulation desk. Microfiche.
The Women's movement in Cuba, 1898-1958
The collection, compiled from Cuban archives covers the period from Cuban independence following the Spanish-American War to the end of the Batista Regime providing information on Cuban women in politics, Cuban feminism, Cuban women's literature, and the legal status of Cuban women, 1898-1940. 13 microfilm reels.
The Women's movement in Cuba, 1898-1958: Index
Index to the set of microfilm reels.

Selected Microfilm Sets: LGBTQ

Gay Rights Movement microfilm set (Rockefeller Library, Level B):

Consists of 112 Reels, catalogued as 3 separate collections, linked below. Comprises an extensive collection of material on groups involved in Gay and Lesbian life and the Gay Liberation Movement since 1950, drawn from collections of the New York Public Library and the GLBT History Society.

Mattachine Society of New York: The Gay Rights Movement
Mattachine Society of New York records, 1951-1976. 24 microfilm reels. See Microindex for guide to the reels.
Mattachine Society of New York: The Gay Rights Movement: Index
Index to the microfilm reels.
Gay and lesbian community, support, and spirit selected newsletters and periodicals from the holdings of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender History Society
67 microfilm reels. See Microindex for guide to the reels.
Gay and lesbian community, support, and spirit selected newsletters and periodicals from the holdings of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender History Society: Index
Index to the set of microfilm reels.
Gay Activist Alliance: The Gay Rights Movement
21 microfilm reels, 1970-1983. See Microindex for guide to the reels.
Gay Activist Alliance: The Gay Rights Movement: Index
Index to the set of microfilm reels.