Special Collections is home to a vast array of resources, many of which are of interest to researchers of women's history or feminism. They are outlined here.
There are many accounts of the lives of servants in the Burnett Archive of Working Class Autobiography. Highlighted here are the lives of four women who all worked as servants between the two world wars.
Please contact Arc-sc@Brunel.ac.uk if you would like to access this collection
Typescript account of a child during wartime
"The men began to return to their homes, most of them unsung heroes as usual, suffering from all kinds of health troubles, most of them without prospect of work and long queues at the Labour Exchanges"
Her autobiography is part of the Burnett Archive (2:644). Please contact Arc-sc@Brunel.ac.uk if you would like to access this collection.
The rare books and periodicals collection includes the Ladies Home Journal, documenting changing attitudes towards women. Our holdings cover the years 1940 to 1961.You can read more about the Ladies Home Journal on our blog.
Please search our online catalogue.
Born in 1912, her mother died when she was a baby so she (and five brothers and sisters) was raised by an aunt and uncle who already had five children of their own. She recounts memories of a rural childhood in the 1920s and the impact of WWI on her village.
Her autobiography is part of the Burnett Archive (2:220). Please contact Arc-sc@Brunel.ac.uk if you would like to access this collection.
A factory girl working during WWI. She volunteered to work in the Danger Zone filling shells, and the 'monkey' machine. She faced a major explosion and TNT poisoning. She was later awarded the OBE.
Her typescript account of her experience of munitions factory work, includes:
Her autobiography is part of the Burnett Archive (part 4). Please contact Arc-sc@Brunel.ac.uk if you would like to access this collection.
Typescript account with images of a child during wartime.
Her autobiography is part of the Burnett Archive (part 4). Please contact Arc-sc@Brunel.ac.uk if you would like to access this collection.
Written in 1986-7, Eva was born in 1908. She reflects on her memories of World War Two, where her husband, Bert, worked in the home guard when war broke out, watching for bombs whenever there was a raid.
"One night there was a lot dropped on Haughly and they lit the sky up"
Bert's work as a private gardener wasn't regarded as essential, so he went back to farming and he and Eva moved to live in a shared farmhouse with another family. She relates the struggles of adjusting to life in a country at war.
Her autobiography is part of the Burnett Archive (part 4). Please contact Arc-sc@Brunel.ac.uk if you would like to access this collection.
The Transport History Collection includes material from the Travellers' Aid Society, which assisted women travelling on their own.
Further information about the Transport History Collection.
Lorna Kite's autobiography traces her experience as a nurse during the Second World War. She qualified a year before war broke out, and initially worked as a theatre sister at Millbank Military Hospital before going to France and working in casualty clearing stations, then joining hospital ships and going to Egypt. She describes medical procedures, such as removing a live shell from a Prisoner of War's heart muscle and, in 1944, was a member of one of the first units to use penicillin.
Her autobiography is part of the Burnett Archive (part 4). Please contact Arc-sc@Brunel.ac.uk if you would like to access this collection.
Susan Frith was a nurse and midwife whose career spanned thirty years, between 1912 and 1942. Her personal diary covers both of the World Wars and leads up to the foundation of the NHS. She went to people’s homes and stayed with them, assisting at the births of babies and caring for those with long term health conditions or who were terminally ill.
Her autobiography is part of the Burnett Archive (part 4). Please contact Arc-sc@Brunel.ac.uk if you would like to access this collection.
Ellyse's typescript manuscript reflects on memories of World War One and gives an account of her experiences during World War Two.
"I wondered how it could be that the world was still going on"
When WWII broke out, she was living with her husband and children in Leicester. They later moved to Oswestry when her husband was stationed there with the RAF, and her son also went to war.
She carried on with her life regardless of war, happy with her house as it was great for the kids and her husband was able to visit.
"We drew the blackout curtains to shut out both the weather and any menace from Hitler, and we sat round the table, happy, warm and thankful."​
She reflects on the joy of VE day, and refers to the war as a “rewarding and happy interlude.” She then moved back to Leicester, with happy memories of wartime Oswestry now with her.
Her autobiography is part of the Burnett Archive (part 4). Please contact Arc-sc@Brunel.ac.uk if you would like to access this collection.
Mary Turner recounts her experiences of rationing, and how people used to help each other out by reporting when food had appeared in the shops.
this time of our lives make a lot of my generation still reluctant to be wasteful or to ditch something not wanted, and I think we tend to be careful though indulgent about food
During World War II she worked as a civilian with the Manchester Police Force. Her account also provides frank descriptions of her family relations and married life.
Her autobiography is part of the Burnett Archive (2:777). Please contact Arc-sc@Brunel.ac.uk if you would like to access this collection.