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About Special Collections
The mission of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History is to collect, preserve, and make accessible records documenting the history of women and other gender minorities. It is a rich source for those interested in women’s movements for social change, particularly suffrage, reproductive rights and reproductive justice, and the women’s liberation movement. We collect these records so that any researcher has the opportunity to tell the full, complicated story of these social and political movements. For this to be possible, the records we steward must reflect the diversity of the people and movements that have changed everyone’s lives.
Archival materials can be consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room, which is open to the public.
This list represents topics documented in our collections of historical records. Most of our collections have been assigned to multiple categories. For more information on the kind of materials the Sophia Smith Collection collects and the topics it plans to steward in the future, please visit our collection development strategy.
The Sophia Smith Collection is committed to anti-oppressive subject analysis. This means that while we primarily use Library of Congress Subject Headings (“LCSH”) to describe and categorize our collections, we also acknowledge that many LCSH terms are offensive or outdated. In those cases, we use our best understanding of the preferred terms as defined by the communities the subjects describe.
Architects Artists Photographers Women in the film and television industry Women in the music trade Women in the theater
Asian American women Black women Jewish women Latina women Lesbian and queer women Native American women White women
Children’s literature Feminist literature Journalists Publishers and publishing Travelers’ writings Women authors Women poets
International cooperation Politics and government War
Missionaries Women and religion
Abortion rights movement African American civil rights Anti-racism Anti-rape movement Antislavery movements Birth control movement Criminal justice reform Environmental justice Left wing political movements Labor movement Lesbian community Peace movements Reproductive and sexual health Reproductive justice Welfare rights movement Women’s liberation Women’s suffrage Women’s societies and clubs
Daughters Female friendship Girls Motherhood Older women Significant others
Education Lawyers Social work Women in higher education Women in medicine Women in sports Women in STEM Young Women's Christian associations
