What is the Women's Archive?
This archive is an online collection of important works by women or pertaining to women's rights which have added to the larger body of women's history, philosophy, and political thought, that are out-of-print or otherwise difficult to find, particularly for women of limited means. They are provided here on a completely non-profit volunteer basis in order that all women who have access to the Internet can benefit from the exploration of these important works.
How do I find a particular book I am looking for?
If the work is book-length, it is generally added to the Archive on a per-chapter or per-section basis, and is archived by title and author. We also post complete editions in Adobe PDF format of many of the works which can be downloaded on demand. All PDF versions have been optimized for accessibility and can be searched in Adobe Reader. Visitors can browse the Archives by title, author, and subject using the menu on the right. Books may be incompletely provided and will be made available as the volunteers are able. Essays and articles are generally provided in their entirety. Periodicals are provided on a per-issue basis.
Can I request a specific work be provided in the Archives?
You can make requests by emailing us at femmenet at gmail dot com, specifying the title and author in your message. We are not always able to fulfill requests due to time and legal constraints, but if the work is appropriate to the Archives, we will do our best.
Why aren't certain types of works made available in the Archives?
Our standards for archival require that the works are significant to and supportive of women's civil rights and political history. Any works that advocate against women's civil rights are not provided here. We also require that the works are difficult for a woman of limited means to find due to being out-of-print, or if owning them in hardcopy might represent a threat to her due to an abusive domestic situation.
I am interested in supporting the Archives. How can I do that?
If you are able to transcribe or digitize books, essays, or periodicals that are appropriate to the Archives, we will be very grateful to receive them. We do not accept monetary donations for the Archives.
I am an author of a work that I believe would be useful to the Archives. How do I submit my work for availability here?
This Archive is intended to make available those works that are not otherwise easily available for women to read, such as out-of-print books and periodicals, or works that are not available in digitized format which might be dangerous for a woman to own in hardcopy if she is in a domestic abuse situation. If your work is currently in print or available online or in digital format (Kindle, PDF, etc), it is not a good candidate for the Archives. If you believe it would be dangerous for a woman to own in hardcopy and it is not available in digital format, we encourage you to talk to your publisher and urge them to make a digital version of your work available for purchase. If after exhausting all of these options, you believe that your work is a candidate for the Archives, you can contact us to discuss addition in the Archives.
Thank you for your interest and please continue to write. Remember that the reason for this Archive is precisely because so many important women's works go out of print.
I am an author of a work represented here, or I am the legal guardian or representative of the estate of an author whose work is represented here, and I do not wish for that work to be made available in the Archives.
Please contact us at femmenet at gmail dot com, and be assured that we will immediately withdraw your work from our Archives upon request. We do not make any profit from the availability of these works; we provide them solely so that women who might otherwise not be able to purchase them in hardcopy due to their limited availability or their personal circumstances can benefit from the content of the work.
It is the objective of these Archives to create a larger audience for the work, and if you are willing, we are very happy to work with you to expand that audience through cooperative measures. For instance, if the work is currently in-print or will soon go back in print, we can make the work partially available here with a link to a publisher where women can purchase a full copy of the work. Bear in mind that many women are not able to purchase hardcopy works because they live in situations of domestic abuse where a hardcopy can literally prove life-threatening to her, making the availability of digitized works critical. If you do not have a digital copy available, we will be happy to provide our digital copy to you so that you can publish the work to a larger audience, and we will provide a link to that digital copy on demand with no expectations of profit-sharing. We ask you to consider these alternatives to keep your work readily available to a larger audience of women who most need the content of these works.
