ABSTRACT

The University of Waterloo Library, although relatively new in the Ontario system having celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 1982, has amassed a large book and archive collection of research materials relating to the history of women. Supplemented by the Library’s general collection of some 1.7 million volumes, the bulk of the primary source materials for women’s studies is housed in the Doris Lewis Rare Book Room. This repository contains over 18,000 rare books and about 125 archive collections and by far the longest established and most active of the many subject collections currently being developed is that relating to the history of women. The major focus of the collecting activity has been to acquire materials of Canadian interest in women’s studies, and this national and Canadian strength is supported by materials published from the sixteenth through to the twentieth century from an international range of sources. While all materials in the Rare Book Room are in their original format, some items in the Library’s general collection are of necessity in reprint or micro format. The purpose of this paper is to detail the history and describe the contents of the Library’s resources relating to women’s studies with the major emphasis being placed on those items housed in the Doris Lewis Rare Book Room.