Vera Douie Fellowships at The Women’s Library, London Metropolitan
University


The Women’s Library is pleased to announce a visiting fellowship for
original research in The Women’s Library Collections.  The fellow will also
arrange a public programme resulting from the research.

The fellowship is for £4,500 for a minimum of two months and does not
include travel or accommodation costs.  The fellow will have use of a
carrel at The Women’s Library.

Applications are particularly encouraged for work on newly available
collections such as the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, the
National Council of One Parent Families, The Girls’ Friendly Society and
our periodicals collection.  Our exhibition during this period will feature
women during the 1980s and applications related to this area are also
encouraged.  However, applications relating to other aspects of the
collections will be given equal consideration.

The private donor of the fellowships has requested that applications from
women over 35 should be given priority.

The fellowship, which will be available each year for the following three
years, will commence in September 2004.  It is open to anyone currently not
employed full time by a HE Institution and it is not necessary to have a
post graduate degree.

The fellowship is affiliated to the Centre for Gender Studies at London
Metropolitan University.

How to Apply


1. Write a proposal of 500 words giving details of the research you
want to undertake and what kind of public programme might result and who it
is aimed at  (public event, display, seminar, workshop etc)
2. Enclose your CV
3. Give the names of two referees

Please send your applications to Antonia Byatt, Director, The Women’s
Library, London Metropolitan University, Old Castle Street, London, E1
7NT.  The closing date is 30 May 2004.

Vera Douie became the librarian of the London National Society for Women's
Service at the Women's Service Library at Marsham St, London between 1926
and her retirement in 1967. In this role she was the moving force behind
the collection that was the forerunner to the present Women’s Library.  She
was active in the women's movement throughout her life and was particularly
involved in the Association for Moral and Social Hygiene. During the Second
World War she was a fervent campaigner for equal rights and published 'The
Lesser Half' on behalf of the Women's Publicity Planning Association in
1943, examining the 'laws, regulations and practices introduced during the
present war, which embody discrimination against women'. After the war, she
also published 'Daughters of Britain: an account of the work of British
women during the Second World War' (1950). When she retired in 1967, she
was awarded the OBE for her life's work. She died in 1979.