WHS pursues a wide range of projects and activities to fulfil its aims. Of those listed, the two publications have already been completed, but others, such as the memorials and primary resources projects, are on-going.
Consultancy
WHS offers advice and suggestions to organisations and public bodies regarding gender balance in their published (and on-line) materials. For example, Learning and Teaching Scotland provided a grant for WHS to advise them on their web-based materials for the Scottish schools history curriculum.
Publications
Documentary History of Women in 19th Century Scotland
Contracted to Edinburgh University Press, this book will be a collection of primary sources focused on a number of themes and introduced and annotated by the editors. We anticipate this will be a perfect accompaniment to our earlier publications, The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women and Gender in Scottish History since 1700.
The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women
(Editors: Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes, Sian Reynolds. Co-ordinating editor: Rose Pipes)
Published in hardback by Edinburgh University Press, March 2006; and in paperback in June 2007.
This 448-page dictionary contains entries on 830 women (from earliest times to the end of 2004), written by a team of 280 scholars. Essentially a work of reference, the Dictionary is also a starting point for further research. Each entry concludes with a list of sources, plus works for further reference, and the index lists the women under 60 category headings.
'It is an extraordinarily moving book, not only because it gives us so wide-ranging a picture of female activity and achievement, but because the entries convey, remarkably, a real sense of flesh and blood, and of Scottish society, especially over the last 400 years.' Jennie Calder.
NOTE: To assist teachers and researchers, WHS has prepared two lists of Dictionary entries which may be obtained by contacting us. In one, women for whom there are entries in the Dictionary are listed under the name of the council areas with which they had some association. In the other, the women are listed chronologically, from earliest times to 2005.
Gender in Scottish History since 1700
(Editors: Lynn Abrams, Eleanor Gordon, Deborah Simonton and Eileen Janes Yeo)
Published in hardback and paperback by Edinburgh University Press, January 2006.
This is the first text to offer an accessible introduction to the ways in which theories of gender might offer new readings of modern Scottish history. It engages with central themes such as politics, identity, work and religion as well as some more unusual topics such as science and medicine and culture.
'A treasure trove of new perspectives on women in the history of modern Scotland. The editors and contributors are to be congratulated for creating what will be a landmark publication in Scottish History.' Professor Christopher Whatley, University of Dundee.
Films
The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women contains entries on women who were in some way connected with film. A list of films which feature these women and their work has been compiled, and some of them have been shown, with accompanying talks, at Filmhouse in Edinburgh (two events), and Dundee Contemporary Arts. Further events are being planned in other places.
Memorials
WHS, in a collaborative venture with Girlguiding Scotland and The Glasgow Women's Library has acquired Lottery funding to design a database to be used to record memorials to women from around Scotland. The final record will be published on the websites of all three organisations. Information on a number of memorials has already been collected, and members are invited to contact WHS with details of memorials to women in their own area.
WHS is collaborating with The Glasgow Women's Library on this project, the aim of which is to produce an online resource for people interested in researching women's history in Scotland.
Primary sources
A sub-group of WHS has begun work on compiling a list of primary sources for Scottish women's history, starting with the documents listed in the 'sources' sections following each entry in The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women.
Trails
WHS wishes to encourage local authorities, schools and other organisations to produce (rural and urban) trails which feature women associated with their locality. A list of women featured in The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women has already been compiled which groups women according to the local authority area with which they are associated, and additional names are invited (contact info@womenshistoryscotland.org)
