STICHWORT
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STICHWORT - Archive of the Women's and Lesbian Movement (German: STICHWORT – Archiv der Frauen- und Lesbenbewegung; "Stichwort" means "Keyword") is an archive and library of the women's and lesbian movement founded in Vienna in 1983. It aims to 'show and preserve the diversity of feminist ideas and struggles'.[1] STICHWORT is run by the association Frauenforschung und weiblicher Lebenszusammenhang.[2] In the journal Interface: A Journal for and About Social Movements, it was described as an example for the development and professionalization of feminist Archives.[3]
Description
[edit]STICHWORT collects literature on women's and gender studies, women's movements, lesbian studies, queer studies and has documented around 900 Austrian women's groups. The archive and library contain flyers, brochures, books, international magazines, posters, audio and visual documents, self-presentations and protocols.[1]
The library currently (as of May 2025) has 19.000 publications and other media, for example a video collection with around 800 films in German and English on all areas of women's studies. These include around 1000 women's magazines covering the last four decades. There is also a collection of grey literature, research reports, typescripts, project concepts, university theses and much more.[1]
Publications that appeared before 1966 were housed in the library's second-hand bookshop,[4] with around 700 titles as of November 2012. The antiquarian bookshop contains novels and short stories, memoirs, collections of letters and 'classic women's literature'. The oldest book dates back to 1828; there are also two books from 1855 and 1864. A 'unique collection' among German-language women's archives are the 120 or so banners that were used at events and demonstrations.[1]
A feminist information service from STICHWORT has been in existence since September 1999. It is intended to serve the greater demand for worldwide information procurement and is accessible to all those interested in theory, practice and research: editorial offices, women's political institutions, publishers, academics, agencies and others.
A printed journal titled STICHWORT Newsletter is published biannually; it contains information on events, among other things.[5]
Activities (selection)
[edit]The International Gay/Lesbian Information Centre and Archive (IHLIA) organised an international conference of LGBT libraries and archives in Amsterdam in August 2012, in which STICHWORT participated.
The largest Austrian event and demonstration was organised by STICHWORT in cooperation with the ChickLit bookshop and took place in March 2011. It celebrated the 100th anniversary of 'demonstrative women's demands'.[6]
Literature
[edit]- Sonja Russ: Frauenfakten. Von Business bis Feminismus. Netzwerke, Organisationen, Institutionen (= Reihe Dokumentation. Band 29). Milena Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-85286-126-8, S. 121.
- Nina Degele: Gender/Queer Studies. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Paderborn 2007, ISBN 978-3-8252-2986-3.
- Geiger, Brigitte; Hauser, Margit (November 2010). "Archiving feminist grassroots media" (PDF). Interface: A Journal for and About Social Movements. 2 (2): 103–125.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Archiv & Bibliothek". www.stichwort.or.at. Retrieved 2025-05-31.
- ^ "STICHWORT Impressum". www.stichwort.or.at. Retrieved 2025-05-31.
- ^ Geiger, Brigitte; Hauser, Margit (November 2010). "Archiving feminist grassroots media" (PDF). Interface: A Journal for and About Social Movements. 2 (2): 103–125.
- ^ Hanna Hacker: Die vollkommene Ehe haben wir in der 76. Auflage. Ein kleiner Einblick in den antiquarischen Buchbestand. In: STICHWORT Newsletter, 2/1996, S. 11–12, hier S. 11:
Wir definieren 'Antiquariat' entlang einer Zeitgrenze; was vor 1966 erschienen ist, zählt dazu – derzeit knapp 700 Titel. [...] Der antiquarische Bestand ist nicht eigentlich Ergebnis gezielter Sammelbemühungen. Den größten Teil hat STICHWORT, nach langen Jahren des Leihgabe-Besitzes in unseren Räumen, der Buchhandlung Frauenzimmer abgekauft.
- ^ "STICHWORT Newsletter". www.stichwort.or.at. Retrieved 2025-05-31.
- ^ Forschungsplattform. Neuverortung der Frauen- und geschlechtergeschichte. Abgerufen am 12. November 2012.