Working in Women's Archives: Researching Women's Private Literature and Archival Documents

by Marlene Kadar

What comes to mind when we hear that a friend or colleague is studying unpublished documents in a celebrated author s archive? We might assume that they are reading factual documents or, at the very least, straightforward accounts of the truth about someone or some event. But are they?

"Working in Women s Archives" is a collection of essays that poses this question and offers a variety of answers. Any assumption readers may have about the archive as a neutral library space or about the archival document as a simple and pure text is challenged.

In essays discussing celebrated Canadian authors such as Marian Engel and L.M. Montgomery, as well as lesser-known writers such as Constance Kerr Sissons and Marie Rose Smith, "Working in Women s Archives" persuades us that our research methods must be revised and refined in order to create a scholarly place for a greater variety of archival subjects and to accurately represent them in current feminist and poststructuralist theories. "

125 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

A useful and fascinating collection of essays about working with the archive to uncover and "rescue" women's lives through their unpublished writing. Most useful to me were “‘A Dusting Off’: An Anecdotal Account of Editing the L. M. Montgomery Journals” by Mary Rubio (51-78) and “Personal Papers: Putting Lives on the Line—Working with the Marian Engel Archive” by Christl Verduyn (91-101).

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found many of the essays in this book interesting. I really enjoyed the essay regarding L.M. Montgomery's journals. This book was also easy to read and many of the case studies were fascinating.