UC Irvine Libraries continue to grow our collections on womxn’s history and related topics that help document and honor the works of womxn. To celebrate Womxn’s History Month, this guide gathers a partial list of available online resources, archival materials, and media (both fiction and nonfiction) as well as recent book additions to the Libraries. Although some online materials are only accessible to faculty, staff, and students with a valid UCInetID, many of the resources are open to the public and all are available throughout the year as part of UC Irvine Libraries’ ongoing effort to foster learning and increase access to a wide variety of scholarship.

For research help with gender and sexuality studies and related topics, contact Research Librarian for Interdisciplinary Studies Melissa Beuoy at melissa.beuoy@uci.edu or visit guides.lib.uci.edu for a complete list of Libraries’ Research Guides.

Online Resources

• Women’s History Month e-book collection on OverDrive (requires UC Irvine login)
• Curated collection of films on Kanopy (requires UC Irvine login)
• Curated collection of documentaries on Docuseek (requires UC Irvine login)
• Celebrating One and All: Women’s History Research Guide
• Gender and Sexuality Studies Research Guide
• History Vault: Women’s Studies (requires UC Irvine login) consists of records of suffrage organizations and other women's rights organizations; personal papers of women's rights advocates, many of whom were involved in the suffrage movement; and records on women at work during World War II.
• Women’s Studies Archive (requires UC Irvine login) contains digitized primary source material focused on the social, political, and professional achievements of women throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century; around 5,700 monographs published between 1820 and 1922 in the United States and authored by women; and primary sources from 1780 to 2000. The archive also explores issues such as the abolition of slavery, alcohol and temperance movements, pacifism and political activism, domestic service, education, health and hygiene, divorce, and social reform.
• Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600–2000 (requires UC Irvine login) is divided into document projects that interpret and present materials, many of which are not otherwise available online, in US history and US women's history. Formats include audio-video, images and websites, as well as printed materials.

Special Collections and Archives

Expand your knowledge of womxn’s history, including on the UC Irvine campus, by browsing some of Special Collections and Archives’ materials in the Online Archive of California. Collections span from as early as the 1940s to the 2010s. Try different search terms and filters for additional collections and see the Before Your Visit webpage for more information about requesting and accessing Special Collections and Archives’ materials.

Recent Additions

In addition to online resources and archival materials, recent acquisitions of books in the UC Irvine Libraries' circulating collection focus on the history, contributions, and experiences of womxn.

• Rethinking Feminist History and Theory: Essays on Gender, Class, and Labour, edited by Lisa Pasolli and Julia Smith, explores how feminism has influenced the connected histories of gender, class, race, labor, and colonialism.
• Shababz! A Graphic Journey Through Islamic Feminisms and Decolonial Empowerment, by Lana Sirri and illustrated by Irem Kurt, dives into the most current discussions about Islam and feminism and invites readers to engage with important conversations on Islam and gender and sexuality while showing how young people can make a difference in society.
• Feminist Conservation: Politics and Power in Madagascar's Marine Commons, by Merrill Baker-Medard, explores the origins of a conservation agenda in Madagascar and the consequences of its neglect of gender.
• The Boundaries of International Law: A Feminist Analysis, With a New Introduction, by Hilary Charlesworth and Christine Chinkin, argues that the absence of women in the development of international law has produced a narrow and inadequate jurisprudence that has legitimated the unequal position of women worldwide rather than confronted it.
• Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Women, edited by Anna Chitando, Eunice Kamaara, and Ezra Chitando, highlights the achievements and progress being made by African women across a wide range of sectors in society, including pandemics, climate change, science and technology, and higher education.
• The Cinema of Cecilia Bartolomé: Feminism and Francoism, by Sally Faulkner, seeks both to write the history of Bartolomé’s extant filmography, and speculate about censored and unfilmed work, thereby fashioning a new way of writing a feminist creative life in film.
• Misogyny in Psychoanalysis, by Michaela Chamberlain, highlights what’s at risk for the practice of psychoanalysis/psychotherapy and, most importantly, for those seeking help when institutionalized misogyny goes unchallenged.
• Closely and Consciously: Reading and the US Women's Liberation Movement, by Yung-Hsing Wu, examines the importance of reading – personal, professional, vocational, aesthetic, and always political – and how the act itself brought a host of women, each with their own history with the US women’s liberation movement, into relation, and into a belief in that relation.
• Here to Stay: The Story of the Class of Women Who Coeducated the University of Virginia, by Gail Burrell Gerry, describes the University of Virginia’s path to change and the challenges women faced as well as the trail they blazed at a university that advertised itself as a school for "Virginia gentlemen."
• Consent in Shakespeare's Classical Mediterranean: Women Speak Truth to Power, by Artemis Preeshl, fills a gap in knowledge about how female-identified and nonbinary characters made choices about intimacy, engagement, and marriage in Shakespeare's classical Mediterranean plays.

Diversity of UC Irvine Libraries’ Collections

UC Irvine Libraries collect materials in all formats to support the university’s research, teaching, and public service mission.

We believe it is crucial that our collections reflect the diversity of our students, faculty, staff, and larger Orange County community. Thus, we are making an effort to collect materials that consider the needs and perspectives of historically underrepresented, marginalized, and oppressed groups. For more information, please refer to our Diversity Statement and Plan.

For additional information about UC Irvine Libraries’ efforts to celebrate diversity in its users, staff, collections, and resources, visit the UC Irvine Libraries Diversity webpage.