Your Female Ancestors

Discover four archives where you can learn about the ordinary and extraordinary lives of your female ancestors:

1. The Sophia Smith Collection
"The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, archives, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history. It was founded in 1942 to be the library's distinctive contribution to the college's mission of educating women."

2. Iowa Women's Archive
"The Iowa Women's Archives holds more than 1100 manuscript collections that chronicle the lives and work of Iowa women, their families, and their communities. These personal papers and organizational records date from the nineteenth century to the present. Together with oral histories, they document the activities of Iowa women throughout the state and beyond its borders. The Iowa Women's Archives is open to the public."

3. Hearth: Home Economics Archive
"HEARTH is a core electronic collection of books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines. Titles published between 1850 and 1950 were selected and ranked by teams of scholars for their great historical importance. The first phase of this project focused on books published between 1850 and 1925 and a small number of journals. Future phases of the project will include books published between 1926 and 1950, as well as additional journals. The full text of these materials, as well as bibliographies and essays on the wide array of subjects relating to Home Economics, are all freely accessible on this site. This is the first time a collection of this scale and scope has been made available."

4. Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture
"The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture in Duke University’s Special Collections Library acquires, preserves and makes available to a large population of researchers published and  unpublished materials that reflect the public and private lives of women, past and present."

Thank you to Beth Snow for sharing this family history tip.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation from any of the collections or archives listed above for writing this post. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”