The Feminist Library awarded National Lottery Heritage Fund grant
Press Release 2nd September 2021. For Immediate Release.
The Feminist Library has been awarded a £63,400 grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to preserve and promote ‘herstories’ involving the local communities of South-East London.
Starting in September 2021, and running until the end of August 2022, the ‘Preserving and Promoting Herstories’ project will focus on preserving local heritage through the collections the Feminist Library has amassed over 46 years and through the acquisition of new feminist material.
Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the Library will hire a Library Assistant to catalogue and conserve the Library’s unique run of over 1,500 feminist periodical titles. This post will allow the Library to provide expanded opening hours, professional advice and guidance to the collections for the public, as well as better ongoing access, both on site and digital, preservation of and care for the collections.
The feminist ephemera collection, one of the most extensive collections of its kind, includes some 15,000 posters, badges, flyers and other items and will form the basis of the first large-scale digitisation project at the Library, providing a wealth of new resources and skills creation opportunities for volunteers.
The Library will also organise a series of talks, panels and workshops throughout the year, focusing on local history and addressing issues of the local communities around Peckham. The Library will invite the local community to participate in all parts of the project and to exchange ideas with the Library collective to co-create the heritage. Participants will be able to use the resources and gain valuable skills in cataloguing and events organising.
The programme’s combination of preservation and accessibility-focused activities will aim to help improve local resilience, community belonging and inclusion. Through discussions, exhibitions and preservation and digitisation activities the Library will raise awareness and engage with feminist issues around London.
Following the Library’s relocation to Peckham in the early months of 2020, it is intent on making the space and collections ever more accessible. The Peckham community is one of the most diverse ones in London – this programme will help ensure that the Library’s community is a reflection of that.
The Library’s management collective said: “We are thrilled to have received this grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. This project will allow us to give increased access to our unique material, both digitally and in our local area of South East London. It is so important that collections like ours are being recognised as valuable parts of our heritage.”
Notes to editors
About The Feminist Library
Originally known as the Women’s Research and Resources Centre, the Feminist Library was founded in 1975 during the height of the second wave of the Women’s Liberation Movement. Our new space in Peckham, where we are currently residing, is called the Sojourner Truth Community Centre and is named after the famous African-American activist and abolitionist.
The Feminist Library is an anti-sectarian, intersectional feminist space. We aim to be inclusive of all feminisms, and particularly welcome those who have historically been marginalised within society as a whole, and within the feminist movement. The Feminist Library is a collective space, and as such all who use the space – both the physical Library and its virtual social media spaces – are responsible for maintaining it as a safe and welcoming one. We will not tolerate sexism, homophobia, racism, transphobia, nor oppressive language or behaviour based on any structural inequality, including disability, socio-economic status, sexuality, age, education, religious affiliation or gender expression.
About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Using money raised by the National Lottery, we Inspire, lead and resource the UK’s heritage to create positive and lasting change for people and communities, now and in the future. www.heritagefund.
Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Insta
For further information
For further information for press publication please contact emma@feministlibrary.co.uk
For interviews with the project coordinators please contact us on: 0207 261 0879 or via email on digital@feministlibrary.co.uk.
The Library is always looking for people to get involved, please email volunteer@
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