From the Archives

A stained-glass depiction of Saint Margaret of Scotland where she is depicted with a halo and surrounded by angels.

A long history: women in Scottish religion

My name is Ashley Thompson and I’m a current volunteer at GWL. When I’m not volunteering, I’m a history student whose passion is gender history, focussing on expressions of femininity […]

Detail from cover of GWL Newsletter Issue 29 (2004) showing two people in the Women's Community Garden, with the text "Blooming! Seeds of Change at GWL"

Green Growth from Seeds of Change: GWL has a Green Thumb!

Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL) celebrated its 30th anniversary in September 2021. As we now enter our fourth decade we ‘look back to move forward’ through our 30 Years of Changing […]

Photograph of an anti-nuclear poster. Poster is advertising an activist meet up/ call to act to fight against nuclear waste and save Scotland's rural areas from nuclear development.

Green Growth from Seeds of Change: Green Events at GWL

In her third blog student placement Amelia takes a look back at Green Events at GWL over the last decade… Whilst trying to map environmentalism at Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL) […]

The library's garden in April 2020 blooming mainly in reds and yellows. With the black lift shaft (with book titles on it) in the background.

Green Growth from Seeds of Change: In Conversation with the Green Cluster

Student Placement Amelia’s second blog on GWL’s work with the environment… The Green Cluster, at Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL), is a group of women at the library who aim to […]

Detail of front cover of issue 29 of the GWL Newsletter, reading "Blooming! Seeds of change at GWL"

Green Growth from Seeds of Change: Introduction

Amelia is studying a Masters in Applied Gender Studies at Strathclyde University and completed her placement with us in April. Read her first in a series of blogs focusing on […]

Archive material displayed on a table titled the Women in Profile September 1990 events alongside conference RSVPs and the Women in Profile film festival programme.

Three Decades of Changing Minds: Project archivist Mae Moss blogs about her first month

Hello everyone!   I’ve been working on the 30th anniversary project for just over 8 weeks now and what a ride it’s been! Having volunteered and worked with Glasgow Women’s Library […]

Large round sticker with white background featuring a skull and crossbones topped with skate wheels, promoting the Windy City Rollers, Chicago. Includes the URL www.windycityrollers.com

NMRD Sticker of the Month: May 2022

The 1880’s saw the emergence of roller skating, and races developed soon after. Roller Derby was founded by Leo Seltzer in Chicago in 1933. Here, the sport was co-ed with both male and female players, and on the track, all players were equal. It was immensely popular in its day, however, its popularity had its ups and downs (at its height, roller derby sold out Maddison Square Gardens). However, it made a more recent comeback in the 2000s.

Round sticker featuring a cartoon image of a skater in blue crouching down, looking over her shoulder, with a blue border and 'Brighton Rockers' in black lettering around the edges.

NMRD Sticker of the Month: April 2022

For many who wear ‘boutfits’ on the track, the combination of playing a fierce and violent contact sport and wearing provocative outfits shows that women do not need to choose between being sexy and tough: they can be both.
However, many teams, in an effort to break the mould and transform from a fun league to a professional one, have ditched the ‘boutfits’

Rectangular sticker promoting Team Germany at the inaugural Roller Derby World Cup in Toronto 2011 featuring Polly Purgatory #13 of SVRG Stuttgart

NMRD Sticker of the Month: March 2022

the artwork has retained its punk-rock origins as does a lot of the team, player, and bout names; many of the names allude to cultural and popular references. This is not unlike wrestling, in which pseudonyms are adopted in order to appear more fierce and threatening to the opponent. In the sticker above, we can see that this Stuttgart player from Germany has taken on the name “Polly Purgatory” to show that she means to send her opponents to a form of hell. This helps to showcase the fun, quirky, and humorous nature of the sport of roller derby.

Glasgow Roller Derby (Sticker)

NMRD Sticker of the Month: February 2022

Glasgow Roller Derby was one of the first roller derby teams to be founded in Scotland in 2007; fourth team in the UK after London Roller Girls, London Rockin’ Rollers, and Birmingham Blitz Dames.