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History of women, gender & sexuality

American women's letters & diaries

Manuscript Women's Letters and Diaries
Collection of previously unpublished letters and diaries by women of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries documenting the details of their lives and illuminating the roles women played within their families, their communities, and the social and political movements of their times. The collection is drawn entirely from the extensive holdings of the American Antiquarian Society.

North American Women's Letters and Diaries
Full text database of women's personal writings.

Southern women and their families in the 19th century [microform]: papers and diaries
Consists of diaries and letters written by women in the American South in the 19th century. Covers a rich variety of topics including the Civil War, slavery, marriage and childbearing, religion and politics.

New England women and their families in the 18th and 19th centuries [microform]: personal papers, letters and diaries
Consists of diaries and letters written by women in New England. From the collections of the American Antiquarian Society and the Newport Historical Society. Subject indexes in the guides for each part of the series.

American women’s diaries [microform]
Part 1 reproduces 8 women's diaries from New England, from the collections of the American Antiquarian Society. Part 2 includes 32 diaries by Southern women. The material covers the late 18th c. through the early 20th c.

British & international women's letters & diaries

Perdita Manuscripts  (1500-1700)
Digital facsimiles of manuscripts written or compiled by women in the British Isles during the 16th and 17th centuries.

British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries
Based on scholarly bibliographies, this collection reproduces published letters and diaries from individuals writing from 1500 to 1950. Represented are all age groups and life stages, all ethnicities, and many geographical regions.

Working women in Victorian Britain, 1850-1910 [microform]: diaries and letters of Arthur J. Munby (1828-1910) and Hannah Cullwick (1833-1909) from Trinity College, Cambridge
Munby was a poet and civil servant who was deeply interested in the lives of working women. His diaries document his observations in great detail. This collection also includes the diaries of his servant and secret wife, Hannah Cullwick. 

Women’s language and experience, 1500-1940 [microform]: women’s diaries and related sources
Reproduces diaries from local British archives and libraries. Includes many travel diaries. 

Colonial discourses. Series one, Women, travel, and empire, 1660-1914 [microform]
Reproduces printed accounts by women of their travel experiences worldwide.

Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History
Brings together hundreds of accounts by women of their travels across the globe from the early 19th century to the late 20th century.