WELSH HISTORY – FROM A WOMAN’S PERSPECTIVE

U3A Cowbridge History Group welcomed author Rosemary Scadden again in September 2015, on this occasion to present an informative talk on the Women’s Archive of Wales (www.womensarchivewales.org), which is a bilingual repository that preserves the unique experiences of women throughout the Principality.

It was in 1986 that historian Professor Dierdre Beddoe ruefully concluded that: “Welsh women are culturally invisible”. It was through the efforts of her, Dr Ursula Masson and others that the Women’s Archive of Wales was founded in 1997, to rescue and safeguard documentation relating to women in Wales and to raise awareness of their history. Membership costs £10 per annum.

Rosemary hoped that her presentation would raise the profile of the organisation within the general community.

The Archive is keen to receive photographs, diaries, papers and letters, even receipts and bills, which show everyday life. It is not restricted to the momentous events of history, such as wars and political milestones (both of which were usually a male preserve prior to the 20th Century), but wants to keep a social history, from women’s perspective, of everyday life in Wales and also to record the experiences of Welsh women living and working elsewhere in the world.

As Rosemary noted, women have always been involved in life’s major events (the births, marriages and deaths), and are often the keepers of the family history, but are generally overlooked by historians.

Collections are normally held locally, in the area where they were deposited, in Record Offices and Archives, but also at the National Library of Wales.

The presentation contained many examples of photographs held in the Archive. Details are given here of a small selection: women in the Peace Movement crossing the Severn Bridge in 1981 on their way from Cardiff to Greenham Common; the first women jurors in Swansea; Margaret Haigh, neé Thomas, who became Lady Rhondda on the death of her father, the 1st Lord Rhondda, but who was not allowed to sit in the House of Lords because of her sex; Amy Dillwyn, an author, who inherited, in 1892, and then managed a spelter (zinc or zinc alloy) works in Swansea. There was even a photograph of a VE Day street party featuring a very young Rosemary Scadden.

One of the documents shown was a 1951 shopping list. Another was a 1932 invoice made out to a farmer detailing the cost of the nine visits his bride-to-be had made to the dentist to have all her teeth extracted; one can only hope her false teeth had arrived in time for the wedding photograph!

Steve Monaghan