Collection: Museum

Objects from the Museum collection

A selection of items donated to the GWL collection during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020. The include a floral patterend face mask, a black and white photograph of a door chain, a roller derby t-shirt, a pink and black Womenzade badge, a bottle of perfume with a postcard of a bottle of perfume being clutched by many hads, and a zine titles Nuclear ReSisters

Collecting in the Time of Coronavirus

As the UK-wide lockdown began on 23rd March, the Glasgow Women’s Library team was already working from home. Amazingly, our museum and archive collections continued to grow. Throughout lockdown, thoughtful first-time donors and long-time champions got in touch. All were keen to preserve part of their personal histories at this momentous time.

A smiling lady in a red trouser-suit and high heeled shoes rides a bicycle. In the background a bald, white-bearded gentleman in an old-fashioned farmworker's smock is so surprised that his hat has popped off and he's dropping his pitchfork. The caption reads: "What it will come to [...] Then they will be satisfied"

Postcards and the Fight for Women’s Suffrage

The GWL collections feature a wide variety of books and objects relating to the Suffrage movement but our range of postcards is arguably the most visually arresting. Both for and against women’s suffrage, they have pictures and slogans that are often shocking and grotesque.

Anti-suffragette postcard of two infants in lace bonnets heartily bawling, with the caption "We want our vote!"

Postcard: “We want our vote!”

Anti-suffragette postcard of two infants in lace bonnets heartily bawling, with the caption “We want our vote!”

Anti-suffragette postcard with a crying baby in ruff collar, with the caption: "Mummy's a Suffragette."

Postcard: “Mummy’s a Suffragette”

Anti-suffragette postcard with a crying baby in ruff collar, with the caption: “Mummy’s a Suffragette.”

Postcard with an illustration of an old woman with a bolt shot across her lips. Caption: "Dear [here there is a space to fill in the name of your choice, in this instance:] Ruby, I wish I could tell you".

Postcard: “Dear ‘Ruby’…”

Postcard with an illustration of an old woman with a bolt shot across her lips. Caption: “Dear [Ruby], I wish I could tell you”.

A smiling lady in a red trouser-suit and high heeled shoes rides a bicycle. In the background a bald, white-bearded gentleman in an old-fashioned farmworker's smock is so surprised that his hat has popped off and he's dropping his pitchfork. The caption reads: "What it will come to [...] Then they will be satisfied"

Postcard: “Then they will be satisfied”

Postcard: A smiling lady in a red trouser-suit and high heeled shoes rides a bicycle. In the background a bald, white-bearded gentleman in an old-fashioned farmworker’s smock is so surprised that his hat has popped off and he’s dropping his pitchfork.

A pro-suffrage postcard that puts a spin on a series of anti-suffrage postcards that are based on the rhyme 'This is the house that Jack built'. The postcard shows a woman and man walking with the Houses of Parliament in the background.

Postcard: “This is ‘THE HOUSE’ that man built…” (Pro-Suffrage)

A pro-suffrage postcard that puts a spin on a series of anti-suffrage postcards that are based on the rhyme ‘This is the house that Jack built’.

A harrassed policeman shepherds two comically plain women to the accompaniment of an anti-Suffragette poem.

Postcard: “This is ‘The House’ that man built…” (Anti-Suffrage)

An anti-suffrage postcard with a rhyming poem that ridicules the Suffragettes. It is one from a series that were published based on the children’s rhyme ‘This is the house that […]

Postcard of a mewling kitten against a background of suffragette colours, captioned: "I want my Vote!"

Postcard: “I want my Vote!”

Postcard of a mewling kitten against a background of suffragette colours, captioned: “I want my Vote!”

Postcard showing a woman’s tongue going through a mangle and a dog pulling on the end of it. The caption reads ‘There’s no end to a Woman’s Tongue’

Postcard: “There’s no end to a Woman’s Tongue”

Postcard showing a woman’s tongue going through a mangle and a dog pulling on the end of it. The caption reads ‘There’s no end to a Woman’s Tongue’