The Feminist Library is both a collection of archive and library resources and a community centre. Set up in 1975, the Library remains a space for people to build communities and to celebrate and explore feminism. Our collection supports this aim by focussing on literature from smaller radical publishers, women’s presses and DIY publications to document feminism that is grassroots, accessible and intersectional.

The main Library collection is held at the Sojourner Truth Centre in Peckham and includes:

Non-fiction

Our non-fiction collection consists of about 5,000 books focussing on the period of 

women’s and feminist campaigns between the 1960s and present day. The collection is very strong in the areas of the arts, mental and physical health, social lives, political campaigning and activism, and queer life. Our non-fiction books can be found on our online catalogue.

Fiction, poetry and drama

We also have about 2,500 works of fiction from all around the world, the majority of which are in English, with some in various European and Latin American languages, including rare small press publications and collected short stories.

Our poetry and drama collections consist of around 1,000 publications, and represents a significant number of little-known and/or self-published poets and playwrights. Our fiction, poetry and drama books can be found on our online catalogue.

Periodicals

The largest collection of feminist journals, magazines and newsletters in the UK, our Periodicals represent a feminist tradition of circulating ideas and supporting and connecting various campaigns with an estimated 1,500 titles. They date from the late 1960s to the present day and include DIY circulated newsletters as well as more widely held journals.

Please click here for an A-Z list of periodicals held or here for a list of periodicals by subject. Please note that these lists are not up to date or comprehensive. As of 2022 we are working on adding the Periodicals to Koha, our online catalogue, so they are indexed and our holdings defined, but until this is complete we advise checking both the PDFs above and our online catalogue.

Zines

We hold a small but growing collection of around 600 zines. In 2022 we had a custom storage unit built for these and we are cataloguing the titles, previously arranged in boxes by rough subjects, so they can be found alphabetically.

If there is anything about the collection you are unsure of, ask one of our library volunteers who will be happy to answer any questions you may have. For more information on the collections, please contact us.

The Feminist Library at Bishopsgate

collections of the Feminist Library can also be viewed at the Bishopsgate Institute. The Bishopsgate Institute is open to the general public and is well worth a visit. These are the collections we have housed at the Bishopsgate Institute:

Pamphlets

We donated our collection of pamphlets to the Bishopsgate in 2009. A radical format used to disseminate ideas quickly and cheaply, the pamphlets cover various topics including labour unions, feminist philosophy, Marxism, women’s health and queer politics.

Posters

The Feminist Library Poster collection is also at Bishopsgate Institute. This consists of around seven hundred posters collected by the Feminist Library over a thirty year period.

Archive

The Feminist Library’s Archive of papers (1976-2004) can also be viewed at the Bishopsgate Institute. This mostly consists of correspondence as well as administrative papers and newsletters. Any collected archives from individuals or groups are also held at Bishopsgate.

Catalogues

Our fiction and non-fiction titles can be searched on our online catalogue. Our periodicals are in the process of being added to the catalogue, so please check there and also our PDF lists of periodicals by title or subject.

We use a unique classification scheme for our non-fiction books devised for the Library by feminist librarian Wendy Davis in the 1970s. It uses women’s issues as its central organising principle and is managed and updated by our team of volunteers.

Please use the Bishopsgate Institute catalogue to search our posters, pamphlets and archive collections.

Visiting the collections

Please check our opening hours and come along to the Library in Peckham, there is no need to book an appointment.

For collections at Bishopsgate Institute please contact them for an appointment.