Feminist Archive North

Special Collections is now open to researchers on a limited basis. There are four researcher desks available, Monday to Thursday, 10am-1pm and 2pm-4pm. Booking has to be made online, at least five days in advance. You’ll find information on how to do this is at https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1504/using_collections/78/plan_a_visit/2

You can search the FAN collections at https://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections/collection/705/feminist_archive_north

If you want to use this service to view FAN materials, please bear in mind that some of our collections are not catalogued, or are only partially catalogued, and it may not be possible for you to identify exactly what you want to see. Special Collections staff are unable to give advice on the FAN collections, and as the FAN office remains closed, we are currently unable to assist researchers in retrieving relevant materials. You are, of course, welcome to email us at fa_north@yahoo.co.uk and we will do our best to help.

We have been informed by Leeds University that the earliest date FAN could reopen is January 2021, and it is likely to be later than that. We are sorry that we continue to be unable to assist researchers and others wishing to see our collections. We are now monitoring our email account, so if you want to get in touch with FAN, please email us at fa_north@yahoo.co.uk

Following government guidance on COVID-19, the University of Leeds has closed the Special Collections section of the Brotherton Library, where Feminist Archive North is based. As a result, FAN will also be closed for the foreseeable future. This follows a three-week closure of the archive because of a strike by University and College Union staff.

We regret that at present we are unable to reply to emails, including ones which may have been sent in the last three weeks. We will try to remedy this. In the meanwhile we hope that everyone stays safe, and we look forward to the time that FAN is open again.

Thank you to everyone who came to our exhibition for International Women’s Day, which focused on the seven demands of the Women’s Liberation Movement, the first four of which were discussed at the first conference in 1970. In the case of at least two of those demands – Free 24-Hour Childcare and End Violence Against Women – the situation is probably worse today than it was 50 years ago.

 

This year marks 50 years since the first national conference of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Feminist Archive North’s exhibition this year is centred around the seven demands of the WLM, looking at how much we have achieved and how far we still have to go. The display includes feminist journals, posters, badges, banners and t-shirts. We will also be showing a short film of the first conference in 1970 and the first WLM march in 1971.

Friday 6 March, 11am-4pm in the Sheppard Room, in the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, Parkinson Building, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT.

We look forward to seeing you there!