Many of the collections in Heritage Quay demonstrate the ways that women sought opportunities to acquire education and build more independent and prosperous lives for themselves. From the early part of the 19th century the records of the Huddersfield Female Educational Institute and subsequent incarnations of the Technical Colleges demonstrate how education for women transformed from the traditional ‘female’ skills of cookery and needlework, to more academic and industrial courses and how opportunities to pursue technical and higher education increasingly began to open up to them.
The experience of women in employment can be examined through the oral histories of nurses gathered in the Graham Thurgood archive, and documents relating to women’s employment in nursing and midwifery (Huddersfield Royal Infirmary archive; Ruby Ward archive). Women as advocates, both politically and for social causes, e.g. pensioners rights, can be traced through the records of women’s groups in political parties (Colne Valley, Denby Dale and Huddersfield Labour Parties) or in individual collections (Noreen Logan archive). While the extensive arts and music collections at Heritage Quay (British Music Collection, Mikron Theatre Company, Huddersfield Amateur Operatic Society…) contain an immeasurable number of stories that reveal the lives, careers and influence of women on the national and international cultural landscape.
Catalogued Collections
Graham Thurgood Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/GT/
Noreen Logan Archive (Relating to Huddersfield Labour Party) – http://heritagequay.org/archives/NL/
Wesley Historical Society (Yorkshire) – http://heritagequay.org/archives/WHS/
Uncatalogued Collections
University of Huddersfield Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/HUD/
Scholes-Monaghan Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/?keyword=Scholes+Monaghan
Ruby Ward Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/?keyword=ward+ruby
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