Women’s history

The University of Melbourne Library has recently acquired the Gerritsen Collection of Aletta H. Jacobs database.

Aletta Jacobs was a Dutch physician and feminist who, along with her husband C.V. Gerritsen began collecting information on women’s issues in the late 1800s. By the time their successors finished their work in 1945, the Gerritsen Collection was the greatest single source for the study of women’s history in the world, with materials spanning four centuries and 15 languages.

The collection contains more than 4,500 publications from the U.S., the U.K., Canada, New Zealand, and continental Europe. Users can trace the evolution of feminism within a single country, as well as the impact of that country’s feminist movement on other countries and their movements.

For other related library resources see our Gender Studies guide.