Women's Studies

Introduction to the Collections

This guide is an introduction to Women's Studies research at The New York Public Library, with an emphasis on the holdings of the General Research Division.  Because of its interdisciplinary nature, Women's Studies material is not kept together as a separate collection, but is housed within various units of the Research Libraries.  Refer to the location field in CATNYP, the online catalog of the Research Libraries, to determine where your material is held.  Users will need to request these materials to be brought up to them for use in the Reading Rooms.

Although this guide focuses on relatively current resources in Women's Studies, NYPL's retrospective collections provide a wonderful and unique source for scholars in many areas.  Our holdings document the progress of the women's movement in this country from its beginnings, and include manuscript materials as well as books, pamphlets, newsletters, and periodicals.

Materials are available on many women instrumental to the early movement: Susan B. Anthony, Jane Addams, and Catherine Beecher, to name a few.  In addition, the Research Libraries' holdings include organizational papers from many early women's groups, such as the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and the YWCA.  These materials can be found in the Dictionary Catalog under the heading Woman (see the section Using the Library’s Catalogs) and in the catalogs of the special collections, such as the Manuscript Division.

The Library also subscribes to many electronic resources that will be helpful to the researcher.  These resources can be used from the public computers in any of our reading rooms.

For further assistance, please consult the librarians at the Reference Desk in Room 315.