Guide to the Records of the Australian Federation of Women Voters, 1920-1983

Summary

Collection number:

MS 2818

Extent:

8.22 metres and (1 packet + 18 archives boxes + 33 ms boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Records of the Australian Federation of Women Voters, National Library of Australia, MS 2818, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection comprises correspondence, minutes, conference papers, reports, newsletters, brochures, newspaper cuttings, photographs and other records. The records cover the legal and political status of women, family allowances and child endowment, women's wages and work conditions, family planning, maternity allowances, marriage and divorce laws and alimony. Additional topics of interest in the collection are the nationality of married women, landlord and tenant agreements, legal aid, prostitution, censorship, equal educational rights, moral standards and the elimination of racism and discrimination against women.

Organisations with which the Australian Federation of Women Voters was affiliated are also represented in the collection, including the League of Women Voters, British Commonwealth League for the Equality of Women, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the International Alliance of Women, the New South Wales League and The Friday Club of Progressive Women. Correspondents include Bessie Rischbieth.

The papers of presidents of the Federation from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s are also included in the collection. They were Irene Greenwood, Estelle Collmann, Dorothy Adams, Lorelei Booker and Ruby Rich.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The initial collection (boxes 1-18) was donated to the Library by the President of the Federation, Irene Greenwood in 1970. The later part of the collection (boxes 19-52) was donated to the Library in 2001 by Douglas Booker, son of the last president of the Federation, Lorelei Booker.

Arrangement:

The first instalment of the collection is in the order in which it was received.

The second instalment of the collection has been kept in its box groupings and file contents have been left undisturbed. File titles have mainly been created by Library staff. The papers of presidents from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s are also included in the collection: Irene Greenwood (Boxes 19 to 21), Estelle Collmann (Boxes 21 to 26), Dorothy Adams (Boxes 26 to 31), Lorelei Booker (Boxes 31 to 33) and Ruby Rich (Boxes 33-45).

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1850710).

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Records of the Australian Federation of Women Voters, National Library of Australia, MS 2818, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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