The Feminist Archive has received a grant of £12,000 from the Pilgrim’s Trust which will enable us to take the first steps in archiving the records of Women’s Aid Federation (England). This is an internationally important collection whose records go back to the origins of the women’s aid movement in the early 1970s.
The records are in about 300 large boxes, which are currently housed in rented storage facilities. The grant will be used to employ a consultant archivist to prepare a detailed report on how best to conserve and catalogue the collection, and the costs of doing this. The recommendations will form the basis of an application for further funding to carry out the work.
The reason that there is little written about the women’s aid movement has been the lack of accessible records for researchers to consult. Although there is still a long way to go, we are very excited about the possibility of this collection being available to researchers in the future.