Michigan Women's History
Women's Rally, Washington, D.C., from John
Sinclair collection
The Bentley Library actively collects the papers of individual Michigan women and the records of significant Michigan women's organizations. Personal collections have come from women in politics and government, educators, civic and community leaders, activists on behalf of women's rights and related issues, students, and homemakers. Women of Michigan highlights just a few of these women. Access to all collections may be found in the MIRLYN database using the appropriate Library of Congress subject heading.
The library has about 135 manuscript collections containing one or more women's diaries. These diaries were written as early as the 1810s and as recently as the 1990s, and represent the work of about 175 diarists. While most of the diaries were written in Michigan, many were written before the family moved to the state, or during travel to other parts of the United States, to Europe, or to other places, or while living in other parts of the country or the world. The diaries are described by collection, and are indexed by the name of the writer, the person's age at the time of writing, the date of the diary, and the place of writing.