Sybil Campbell
The Sybil Campbell collection reflects the entrance of women into higher education and into academic and professional life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
The collection's strengths are in biography, English literature and language and history. It also holds material on the British Federation of University Women (BFUW).
There is material on academic women internationally, with contributions from women’s associations and gifts from governments of the Commonwealth, America, European countries, Scandinavia and so on, reflecting their national cultures. The earliest part of the Collection was intended to provide young graduates of the 1920s and 1930s with an overview of their world in order to foster international peace and understanding following the aims of the BFUW and IFUW.
Benefactors include Leonard and Virginia Woolf and members of the Bloomsbury group, Beatrice and Sidney Webb, Harold Laski, Alys and Bertrand Russell, and academics and writers of the their day. Early members of BFUW gave books and bequeathed their libraries - Sybil Campbell herself, Ivy Davison, Caroline Spurgeon and Theodora Bosanquet to name just a few. There are books associated with Chelsea and Sir Thomas More from the time the Library was at Crosby Hall. Bequests include a wide selection on history, including the eighteen volumes of Charles Booth, Life and Labour of the People of London. The Library holds newspaper cuttings, from c.1990, of obituaries of interesting women (not listed in the catalogue).
Please note that the collection is for reference only.
The Sybil Campbell collection can be searched through its online catalogue.
Arranging to view the collection
The collection is available for the use of researchers and others, by arrangement only.
The library requires at least 24 hours notice.
If you would like to arrange a visit to view the collection please e-mail libenquiries@winchester.ac.uk
Events
Any events associated with the collection are organised by the Centre for the History of Women's Education (CHWE).