The Digital German Women’s Archive went online
With an enthusiastic celebration the umbrella organisation of lesbian/women’s archives, libraries and information/documentation centres of German language countries i.d.a. and the committee’s offices of the project launched the website of the Digital German Women’s Archive (DDF) on the 13th September 2018 in Berlin. This event was the official signal to commemorate 100 years of women’s suffrage in Germany.
The Digital German Women’s Archive is an unique portal about the history of the German women’s movements from the 19th century untill today. The portal represents thematic essays about special periods, events, discourses etc. of different groups, initiatives, networks as well as essays about single women as activists, protagonists, agents and her network with other persons and organisations. The essays focus on six thematic fields: work and economy; education and knowledge; violence; culture, art and media; body and sexuality; and politics, law and society. The essays are written by specialists and academics, affiliated or working in i.d.a.’s archives and libraries and enriched with digital material which is implemented in i.d.a.’s META-catalog (online since 2015). This catalog is the nucleus of the Digital German Women’s Archive and is still improving. The whole project, started in 2016, is funded by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
The launch of the Digital German Women’s Archive was combined with the 53rd annual meeting of the about 40 archives and libraries of i.d.a. (15.09.2018) and a special event: the Feminist Summer University at the Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin (14.09.2018). In about 60 sessions – organised by i.d.a.’s institutions and partners – the discussions, representations and workshops of the Feminist Summer University connected the history of women’s movements with challenges of our present days.
We were very glad to celebrate this event together with some of our WINE-partners from Atria in Amsterdam, Amazone in Brussels, Kvinnsam in Gothenburg and the Biblioteca italiana delle donne in Bologna. We heartly thank the Resource and Documentation Centre (RDC) at the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in Vilnius which further invited RDC-partners from women’s and gender libraries like Ariadne in Vienna, Gender Studies Praha and from Greece to held the annual RDC/EIGE-meeting at the same location. So all participants could join the EIGE- and WINE-workshop during the Feminist Summer University as well as all the other events.
A picture galery shows different highlights from all events on the 13th and 15th September.
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