Gillian Murphy

The Women’s Library at 100 – seven recommended reads for a new LSE exhibition - LSE Review of Books Heather Dawson's reading list for Women’s History Month 2026 & a new exhibition at LSE Library, The Women’s Library at 100: celebrating a century of collections.

LSE librarian @socialscience2.bsky.social recommends seven books based on a new exhibition celebrating 100 years of The Women's Library @lselibrary.bsky.social

@fotwl.bsky.social @gillianmurphy.bsky.social @whitproject.bsky.social @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy @thelondonarchives.bsky.social

This was a lot of fun to do. Thanks so much to @gillianmurphy.bsky.social and @lselibrary.bsky.social for letting me co-curate this new exhibition celebrating 100 years of the Women's Library collection. Such an important resource

Ooh do go to this exhibition if you are in London.

exhibition poster with image of young girls dancing in charlston-style dresses taken by Cynthia Cockburn in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996

And to my colleague Angèle David-Guillou for introducing me to the wonderful photography of peace activist, Cynthia Cockburn, some of which you can see on the video wall in the exhibition. Cynthia also took the lead image for the exhibition poster.

red front cover of book with scrapped outlines of bound hands, arms and faces, and barbed wire.

Thank you Nazmia Jamil for highlighting the important work of Sheba Feminist Publishers and Black women writers.

purple badge 'unite with una' slogan for election campaign in 1974.

Thank you @graceheaton.bsky.social and @teadevotee.bsky.social for your work on Una Kroll, parliamentary candidate in the 1974 General Election. The image shows the badge and slogan used in her campaign. Una was involved in many campaigns including the Movement for the Ordination of Women.

handwritten letter by Josephine Butler to a friend about the crimes of the aristocracy.

Thank you @drcisme.bsky.social and @carolinederry.bsky.social for telling the story around the scandal which brought about the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. A story which resonates today.

printed text from early 1920s with six points of action.

Thank you to @kellybosomworth.bsky.social for highlighting the campaigning work of the feminist organisation, the Six Point Group. This image shows the first six points of action in the early 1920s.

Thank you to all the exhibition creators who have highlighted various themes that can be found in The Women's Library.

Thank you @whitproject.bsky.social for highlighting feminist, socialist, liberal and anticolonial voices that reimagined international relations.

Current exhibition | LSE Library Find out about our current exhibition drawing on themes within our collections.

NEW EXHIBITION NOW OPEN ✨
The Women’s Library at 100: Celebrating a Century of Collections.
Join us Thu 12 March to celebrate - meet the curators alongside colleagues from other archives including @nationalarchives.gov.uk.web.brid.gy @thelondonarchives.bsky.social
www.lse.ac.uk/library/twl100

📢 New book alert 📢 via @manchesterup.bsky.social. New insights into #womenshistory #Irishhistory via lens of leisure. My chapter argues how Irish Countrywomen's Association created opportunities for fun & leisure for rural women. Afterword by @clairelanghamer.bsky.social. @whaireland.bsky.social 🥳

Here's the image in @teadevotee.bsky.social article on the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 in History Today.

bsky.app/profile/hist...

Love the image - the banner, flag and sashes still exist in The Women's Library. Colour scheme is green, red and white - no purple.

Love the image - the banner, flag and sashes still exist in The Women's Library. Colour scheme is green, red and white - no purple.

An image of nurses in a suffrage procession, holding flags and staring determinedly at the camera

Learn more about the crucial role nurses played in the Women's Suffrage Movement with our Historic Nursing Journals. Here's an image of nurses in suffrage procession on the 17 June 1911, just before the Coronation of George V and Mary. ✊

#RCNLibraries #HistNursing

https://bit.ly/3OwvVu0

Black and white front page of journal, Opportunity dated 1921 - contents table and text.

Image of journal The Townswoman cover with black, red, green border

NEW on our Digital Library: 'Opportunity', journal of the Federation of Women Civil Servants, and 'Townswoman', journal of the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds are now available to search and research women's activism.
digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/...
#thewomenslibraryat100

We‘re delighted to announce our GPS student Mahnoor Omer has been recognized in TIME magazine’s Women of the Year list!

Congratulations from everyone at the department! 👏

LSE Gender students change the world!

Congratulations to Fiona McCallion @lsehy.bsky.social for winning our LSE MSc dissertation prize. Her thesis was 'Women, Solidarity and Politics: the Chile Solidarity Campaign
and the Women’s Movement in Britain, 1973-1982'.

Law and Justice in the 1950s: Case Studies from a Neglected Decade.

Come to the online launch of Law and Justice in the 1950s! I'll be speaking about the Wolfenden Report, alongside editors Fiona Cownie and Rosemary Auchmuty and fellow contributors @paradoxbridge.bsky.social, Emma Jones, Sally Wheeler and more.

#LegalHistory

For those there in person, there will be material from Emily Wilding Davison's archive - her race card for 4 June 1913 and other gems chosen by Karen.

For the Dear Love of Comrades with Karen Karbiener For the Dear Love of Comrades: Emily Wilding Davison Takes Walt Whitman to the Grave

📆THU 5 Mar 12.30-1.30pm EVENT: For the Dear Love of Comrades with Karen Karbiener on the life and death of radical suffragette Emily Wilding Davison and her admiration of poet Walt Whitman. With items on display from The Women's Library collections.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/for-the-de...

Happy publication day to @uobrishistory.bsky.social’s Professor Sumita Mukherjee!

Scientific Aspirations and Normative Gender Roles: Indian Women in Science – Nilakshi Das Women’s participation in Indian science since the mid-twentieth century is often framed through celebratory narratives of progress, characterised by increased educational access, rising numbers of …

New blog 📝 Nilakshi Das examines Indian women's participation in science, and the balance between aspiration and normative gender roles revealed by her life history interviews with four Indian women scientists of the post-war era.

Read the full piece here: womenshistorynetwork.org/indian-women...

Thank you Henrietta for sharing your research on Christiana Herringham. The talk was made all more special with a look at some of the suffrage banners in The Women's Library. Wonderful!

Sylvia Townsend Warner Fundraising Appeal | Dorset Archives Trust Dorset Archives Trust isleading a fundraising appeal to bring the Archive of writer and LGBTQ+ pioneerSylvia Townsend Warner(1893-1978) into the public domain through the creation of a full catalogue....

Dorset Archives Trust are fundraising to catalogue 85 boxes of Sylvia Townsend Warner's archive. Donors receive digital gifts from the archive to say thank you. Details are here: www.dorsetarchivestrust.org/project/sylv...

Alongside Dr Leo Shipp, our first-year undergraduates visited the LSE Archives as part of their module HY120: Historical Approaches to the Modern World. Dr Gillian Murphy introduced them to some of the jewels from the LSE collections. #students #fieldtrip #history #lse

Publishing in March! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

'A queer scrapbook' vividly illustrates the diversity of LGBTIQ+ lives across Britain and Ireland since the Second World War. 📖

Pre-order before the 28th Feb to get 30% OFF, just enter code LGBT30 at checkout on our website.
@lgbthm.bsky.social #booksky

New on our noticeboard - post by member, Lizzie Broadbent, on 'Women, libraries and protests':
friendsofthewomenslibrary.org.uk/2026/02/12/w...

Thanks Lizzie - didn't know about the fascinating documents relating to Philippa Strachey's organisation of the Women's Trades and Professions Procession in 1909.

Women's Grassroots Activism - Toolkit 100+ Launch (IWD 2026) Launch of the 100+ Toolkit for Women's Grassroots Activism. A 2026 IWD Event hosted by London South Bank University.

📢 Delighted to announce launch of @ukri.org #WomensGrassrootsActivism #Activism100+Toolkit 🧰 to mark #IWD2026. Free event on Tues 10 March, 5.30pm (via Zoom). Book your spot via link 👇. @womensinstitute.bsky.social @soroptimistgbi.bsky.social @womenshistnet.bsky.social @whaireland.bsky.social 📢