Oral Evidence on the Suffragette and Suffragist Movements

The archive consists of VHS copies of the oral history interviews; file of contextual material relating to the project.

As at 2007 this collection was unavailable whilst a project to create preservation copies of the tapes was being completed. The project should be fully completed and the collection available early in 2008.

In accordance with the Data Protection Act, some individual interviews are therefore either closed or subject to access restrictions. Originally the interviews were obtained on the condition that the permission of the interviewee would be sought before access was granted.

Readers are strongly advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their visit.

Between 1974-1981 Brian Harrison, then of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, undertook an oral history project financed by Social Science Research Council (He later extensively used these interviews in his book 'Prudent Revolutionaries: Portraits of British Feminists between the Wars' Oxford University Press 1987). The original aim of the project was to provide material to supplement documentary sources on the Edwardian women's suffrage movement in Britain and to make these interviews available to scholars subsequently working in the field. Interviews were conducted with surviving suffragists, their offspring and relatives. During the course of the project the chronological scope was widened to include those active in the women's movement after women's enfranchisement. Thematically the scope was also widened to encompass those who were active in other women's organisations, including international and religious organisations, and to cover themes including women's employment and birth control. Interviews with 183 individuals were completed.