Sophia Smith Collection - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College

Smith College

Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...

is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history

Women's history

Women's history is the study of the role that women have played in history, together with the methods needed to study women. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights throughout recorded history, the examination of individual women of historical significance, and the...

. It was founded by Margaret Storrs Grierson

Margaret Storrs Grierson

Margaret Storrs Grierson , archivist and philosophy professor, was the founder and first director of the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College. In this capacity, she traveled extensively, in the United States and abroad, assembling manuscripts that document the history of women.-Personal...

in 1942 to be the library's distinctive contribution to the college's mission of educating women.
Named to honor the founder of Smith College in 1946, today the Collection consists of over 8000 feet (2,438.4 m) of material documenting the historical experience of women in the United States and abroad from the colonial era to the present.

Subject strengths include birth control

Birth control

Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...

and reproductive rights

Reproductive rights

Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...

, women's rights

Women's rights

Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...

, suffrage

Suffrage

Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...

, the contemporary women's movement, U.S.