Women's History Resources in the Special Collections Research Center
The SCRC invites you to explore manuscripts, university archives, rare books, and artifacts related to women and to engage with the achievements, struggles, and representations of women throughout history.
Diary of a fourth grader from Reedville, Virginia. McFarland writes about her friends from school and everyday home life. From the Doris Ann McFarland Papers.
Autograph book kept by Yancey while at Patapsco Female Institute (Ellicott City, Maryland), a "finishing school" meant to teach young women the proper deportment and etiquette for entry into upper-class society.
Letters from Frances M. Warren to her stepdaughter, Bertha, who is a deaf student at the Mystic Oral School (Mystic, Connecticut). Frances writes about the skills she hopes Bertha will learn at school and shares news from home.
Includes materials from Doris Rainey's 40th and 50th high school reunions at Bruton Heights School (class of 1945), a segregated school for African Americans in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Three diaries recording the everyday musings of Edelen, a high school student in West Virginia. She often writes about her self-doubt, wishing she were thinner and in a relationship.
Founded in 1853 as a school for women, the Albemarle Female Institute awarded one of the first Master of Arts degrees to a woman by a southern institution in 1861.
Autograph album, belonging to Amnien, a student at the Hudson Female Academy in New York, contains pencil sketches, newspaper clippings, manuscript music, and photographs of classmates.
Personal correspondence from Haus' time at Marion Junior College in Marion, Virginia and Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Throughout her higher education, Haus joined numerous religious organizations for students, such as the Lutheran League. She graduated with a teaching certificate.
Scrapbook, entitled "Memories of My School Days," kept by Thompson while a student at Virginia State College, a Historically Black College in Petersburg, Virginia. Her scrapbook compiles names and addresses of classmates, greeting cards, and ephemera from play productions.
Correspondence and school papers kept by Graves during her time at Winston-Salem Teachers College (Winston-Salem, North Carolina), the first Historically Black College to issue bachelor's degrees in elementary school education.
Letters from supervisors or sponsors to Minnie Hill, a northern teacher who taught at freedmen's schools in Norfolk and Petersburg, Virginia in the late 1860s.
Facsimile copies (circa 1951) of an account by a missionary school teacher who taught black students at Fort Magruder and in Williamsburg, Virginia from 1866 to 1867.
In this letter, Ross describes reading to a blind girl and beginning to learn sign language while working at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton, Virginia.
Letters written to Kibler while she was a student at Virginia's State Teacher's College (Harrisonburg, Virginia) and, later, completing her training at her teaching post in Front Royal, Virginia.
Certificate from the Virginia State Board of Education certifying that Charlotte Shipman is authorized to teach history, English, and Latin in public schools. Endorsed by the Division Superintendent of Newport News, Virginia.
Letters written by Cassidy describe her time teaching at The Spruces (Staatsburg, New York), a long-term care facility now known as the Anderson Center for Autism.
Eight binders documenting Dyer's career as an educator in Virginia. Includes lesson plans, photographs, and typed personal recollections, often related to desegregation in education.
More Resources
Search the SCRC's Collection Guides database for more manuscript and university archives collections related to the history of women's education. Some suggested subject headings include:
