Women’s studies, gender, and sexuality

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  • SCA was founded in 1976 with a significant collection of materials related to women’s history and women’s studies as the cornerstone of the department. Acquired in 1967 by university librarian Doris Lewis from the National Council of Women of Canada, the donation included the Council’s library on the history of women in Canada. Present in these collections are the papers of individual women and women’s organizations, and reference files that support the study of women’s history in Canada from the mid-nineteenth century to the late twentieth century. In general, the collections fall into the following broad categories: birth control and eugenics, broadcasting and journalism, domestic arts, education, medicine and science, organizations, politics, women’s rights and suffrage, and writers.

    SCA's ever-growing book and periodical collections have a wide historical and geographical focus, including works on the role and place of women in society from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Of note is the British Women's Periodicals Collection, which consists of some 35,000 issues of British women's magazines published from 1893 to 1977 that cover topics such as cooking, crafts, advice, fashion, and health, along with advertisements illustrating contemporary attitudes and concerns.

    In addition, SCA actively collects materials that support the study of gender diversity, sexuality, and social justice, including collections that document intersectional and/or racialized identities. Current collections include poems, plays, essays, and other works by John Herbert, a Canadian playwright and theatre director, best-known for his play, Fortune and Men’s Eyes, and the records of the Glow Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity at the University of Waterloo, the longest-running queer and trans student organization in Canada. Additional collections include zines authored by and focused on queer, trans and Two-Spirit people, and a wide selection of paperback books featuring lesbian themes by authors such as Ann Bannon, Artemis Smith, and Randy Salem.

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      Women’s studies, gender, and sexuality

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          Women’s studies, gender, and sexuality

            1 Archival description results for Women’s studies, gender, and sexuality

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            Open letter from Québec feminists.
            SCA401-GA467 · Collection · [1971?]

            Anonymous open letter created by a group of feminists from Québec outlining the outcomes from the October Crisis (Québec, October 1970) and the relationship between Québécois feminist movements and the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ).

            Letter begins by explaining the relationship between the FLQ struggle and women’s struggle. It then moves to an overview of the events that lead to the October Crisis and the invocation of the War Measures Act, while calling for an independent Québec. Later, it covers the effects of the October Crisis for the citizens of Québec in general, and for women in particular (retelling raids, questionings, jailing, and overall police activities and attitudes). It continues with an exposition on women's inequality in government and society. The letter finishes by appealing for support to the FLQ and the women’s movement.

            Letter seems to have been written shortly after the invocation of the War Measures Act in October 1970, and a year after the Women’s Movement in Québec began (possibly refers to the Québec Women’s Liberation Front (FLF) created on December 1, 1969).