Schlesinger Library

Established in 1943, the Library holds manuscripts, books, periodicals, photographs, ephemera, oral histories, and audiovisual materials that document the history of American women in the U.S. and abroad, primarily during the 19th and 20th centuries. Especially well-represented are women's rights, social reform, family history, health, sexuality, work, the professions, Radcliffe history, and food and culinary history. Over 2,200 manuscript collections include papers of notables such as Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Beecher Stowe, of lesser-known women, and of women's organizations such as the Boston YWCA and the National Organization for Women. The collection of books and periodicals covers all aspects of the 19th- and 20th-century social and intellectual history, and includes many volumes on cookery and household management. The library offers eight to ten other research grants, and is part of the Radcliffe Institute's community of resident fellows who pursue advanced work across a wide range of academic disciplines, professions, and the creative arts.