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.