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Authority record
GB/NNAF/C44976 · Corporate body · 1902

The Alliance began in 1902 in Washington, United States of America when a group of leading suffragists from 11 countries met and decided to form an organisation. This organisation was envisaged as a central bureau to collect, exchange and disseminate information on suffrage work internationally. The IWSA was constituted in Berlin in 1904; its periodical, Jus Suffragii, began in 1906, and the Alliance met regularly until the outbreak of war in 1914. The group continued its operations throughout the First World War, and by the end of 1920 the IWSA had affiliated societies in 30 countries throughout the world, with its headquarters in London.

GB 1543 WCR1 · Corporate body · 1989-1996

Following the end of the United Nations decade on women in 1985, a working party exploring the position of women in church was set up in Scotland. On 19 March 1988 an open meeting was held at which Sister Mary Kilpatrick, Secretary Justice and Peace Commission and Mary Shanahan, a Roman Catholic and experienced educational worker, spoke. A year later in 1989, with financial support from the Falkland Community Trust, the Women's Church Resource Group's centre was launched at 15d Hill Street, Glasgow. Co-ordinated by Mary Shanahan and supported by a group of about thirty women, including Pat MacEachan, Honor Hania, Betty Campbell, Kathie Walsh and Barnie Pugh, the WCRG's aim was to support and develop the understanding of the role of women in church and society through training, study, employment and support. On 16 May, 1996 the last steering group meeting was held and two years later the papers, books and resources of the group were donated to Glasgow Women's Library.

Daughters of Bilitis
GB 1543 · Corporate body · 1955 - c.1971

The Daughters of Bilitis was set up in 1955 by Phyllis Lyon (pseudonym Ann Henderson) and Del Martin in San Francisco. The name 'Bilitis' was taken from a poem written by the French poet, Pierre Louys (1870 -1925), in which Bilitis is described as Sappho's lover on the Isle of Lesbos.
The aim of the women's group was 'for the purpose of promoting the integration of the homosexual in society' firstly through the education of the 'variant, with particular emphasis on the psychological, physiological and sociological aspects, to enable her to understand herself and make her adjustment to society...this to be accomplished by establishing and maintaining as complete a library as possible of both fiction and non-fiction literature on the sex deviant theme; by sponsoring public discussions on pertinent subjects to be conducted by leading members of the legal, psychiatric, religious and other professions; by advocating a mode of behaviour and dress acceptable to society'. Secondly, it aimed to educate 'the public at large through acceptance first of the individual, leading to an eventual breakdown of erroneous taboos and prejudices'. Thirdly, it aimed to participate in research and lastly, to investigate the penal code 'as it pertains to the homosexual.' (Taken from description in cover of <em>The Ladder</em>, the society's monthly publication).

Poster-Film Collective
GB 1543 · Corporate body · 1970s-1980s

The group was first formed in 1971 when a group of artists, photographers and filmmakers came together at the Slade School of Art to produce posters in response to the Miner's Strike and the wars in Vietnam and Ireland. The Collective was soon supplemented with other artists with left-wing, anti-imperialist and socialist sympathies from St Martin's, Hornsey, the Royal College of Art and other art colleges. It had a global outlook and its members included people from Chile, Holland, Africa, USA, Ireland, Brazil and Argentina. The group was voluntary and worked on a non-profit basis. It produced individual and handmade posters for causes such as the struggle for women's liberation, and posters against colonialism in Africa and against racism, often in collaboration with other organisations. In addition it made three history sets of educational posters, each set consisting of twelve posters, these were: 'Whose World is the World', a history of colonialism; 'Between Future and Past' (1983), a history of women's struggle for equality in the west; and 'Future Fictions', a historical view of technology. The group also put on exhibitions and produced films.