Papers of Jessie Street
Papers of Jessie Street
| Country | Australia |
|---|---|
| Repository | National Library of Australia, Parkes Place, Canberra ACT 2600, Australia |
| Section | Other Documentary Heritage that Contributes to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment |
| Gender Dimension | Records on gender equality issues; Achievements of women in history |
| GEM | GEM 3 – Gender Transformative |
| Description | Feminist, activist, and diplomat Jessie Street was an instrumental figure in Australian and world politics during the twentieth century. She was active in Australian and international organisations concerned with the causes she supported. Her papers from 1914 to 1968 in the National Library of Australia document her personal and family life, political involvement in women’s issues and feminist activities, the peace movement and campaigns to ban nuclear weapons, the formation of the United Nations and the UN Status of Women Commission, relations between Australia and Russia, Aboriginal rights and race relations. The collection includes manuscript and printed material, correspondence, speeches, texts of broadcasts, financial records, meeting papers, diaries, objects, photographs, maps, her poems, and drafts of her autobiography (the second volume never published). Jessie Street was a participant in significant world events. She organized the Australian Women’s Conference for Victory in War and Victory in Peace, whose stipulations for the political, social, and economic mobilization of women post-war were codified in the 1943 Australian Women’s Charter. After the World War II, Jessie served as the only woman in Australia’s delegation to the founding conference of the United Nations in 1945. Her death in 1970 coincided with the emergence of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Australia and ‘second wave’ feminism. The Papers of Jessie Street constitute an extensive assemblage of papers that comprehensively document the achievements of a prominent Australian activist for the rights of women, peace and disarmament, and the rights of Aboriginal peoples over six decades in the twentieth century. The collection was inscribed into the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register in 2021. |
| Reference | Royal Australian Historical Society (2021). https://www.rahs.org.au/jessie-street-1889-1970/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=this-week-s-newsletter-total-posts-from-the-royal-australian-historical-society_9 The document is avaliable at https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231546119/findingaid?digitised=y#nla-obj-353769272 Photo credit: © National Library of Australia |
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