Guide to the Margaret Grace Bondfield Papers,
1854-1951, (bulk 1898-1951)
Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Subject Headings
- Administrative Information
- Access and Use
- Encoding Information
- Series List
- Container List
Collection Summary
| Repository: | Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries |
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| Creator: | Bondfield, Margaret, 1873-1953 |
| Title: | Margaret Grace Bondfield Papers |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1854-1951 |
| Bulk Dates: | 1898-1951 |
| Quantity: | 14 cubic ft (14 boxes and 17 books) |
| Abstract: | Correspondence, clippings, speeches, publications, government documents, and other materials concerning Bondfield's work with labor and trade unions, primarilly in Great Britain, but also Australia, Canada, the United States and other countries. |
| Forms of Materials: | Correspondence, clippings, speeches, publications, and government documents. |
Biographical Note
Margaret Bondfield, (1873-1953) trade union leader and first British woman cabinet minister, was born in humble circumstance near Chard, Somerset. "Maggie," as she was known all her life, went to work at age thirteen as a teacher in a state-aided school. Two years later she got work as a shop assistant. Low wages, long hours, and the living-in system sparked her interest in the National Union of Shop Assistants and led to her lifelong involvement with the British labor movement. The organizations with which she was involved included the Trades Union Congress, Women's Trade Union League, National Federation of Women Workers, and the International Labour Organization. On all these fronts she fought for the rights of women workers and for the recognition of women within the movement. As a socialist she opposed the limited bill for female emancipation and stood for adult suffrage.
Early in her career Bondfield joined the Independent Labour Party. In a six-year preliminary career, she served as secretary to the Ministry of Labour in the first Labour government and became the first woman cabinet member when she was appointed Minister of Labour in 1929. Upon retirement in 1939 she devoted much of her time to social-service groups. Her autobiography, entitled A Life's Work (1949), concerned mainly with the "radical" causes for which she worked.
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Scope and Content Note
Correspondence, clippings, speeches, publications, government documents, and other printed material concerning her involvement in the Labour Party and its election campaigns, 1919-1947; unemployment insurance, strikes, and juvenile employment, 1912-1931; political trip to Russia in 1920; political and labor concerns in Australia, 1929-1941; British immigration to Canada, 1924-1938; postwar affairs in Germany, 1946-1947; trips to America, 1910-1949; and various women's groups including the International Congress of Working Women, Women's Group on Public Welfare, National Institute of Houseworkers, the Shaw Training School, and the Women's Peace Crusade, 1921-1940. Correspondents include Helen Lockwood, Edith and Grace Abbott, Clement Atlee, Angelica Balabanoff, Martha Anderson, Mary Anderson, William H. Beveridge, Ernst Bevan, Edward Carpenter, Madame Joliet-Curie, Mary Dingman, David Lilienthal, J. Ramsey MacDonald, Violet Markham, Frieda S. Miller, Mrs. Vijaylaxmi Pandit, Frances Perkins, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rose Schneiderman, and Lillian Wald. Personal and travel diaries, 1898, 1908, 1910-1951. Correspondence with John Hilton and Percy Wallis concerning wage and price controls, 1932. Bondfield's articles, broadcasts, speeches, and related correspondence, 1902-1948, and clippings about her, 1898-1949.
Manuscripts of her books, MY LEISURE, 1947, and A LIFE'S WORK, 1948. Family correspondence, 1896-1948, three letters to her father William Bondfield from Samuel Blasdale in America, 1854-1861, and manuscript on local history by J.S. Bondfield, 1880. Miscellaneous memorabilia, photographs, bibliographies, and notes on the collections.
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Access and Use
Access
This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library without any additional restrictions.
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Subject Headings
Names:
- Abbott, Edith, 1876-1957.
- Abbott, Grace, 1878-1939.
- Anderson, Martha.
- Anderson, Mary, 1872-1964.
- Atlee, C. R. (Clement Richard), 1883-1967.
- Balabanoff, Angelica, 1878-1965.
- Bevan, Ernst.
- Beveridge, William Henry Beveridge, Baron, 1879-1963.
- Blasdale, Samuel.
- Bondfield family.
- Bondfield, William.
- Bondfield, J.S.
- Carpenter, Edward, 1844-1929.
- Dingman, Mary Agnes, 1875-1961.
- Hilton, John, 1880-1943.
- Joliet-Curie, Irène, 1897-1956.
- Lilienthal, David, 1899-1981.
- Lockwood, Helen Drusilla, 1891-1971.
- MacDonald, James Ramsey, 1866-1937.
- Markham, Violet R. (Violet Rosa)
- Miller, Frieda Segelke, 1889-1973.
- Pandir, Vijaya Lakshmir, 1900-
- Perkins, Frances, 1882-1965.
- Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962.
- Schneiderman, Rose, 1882-
- Wald, Lillian D., 1867-1940.
- Wallis, Percy.
Organizations:
- International Congress of Working Women.
- International Labour Organisation.
- Labour Party (Great Britain)
- National Federation of Women Workers.
- National Institute of Houseworkers.
- Shaw Training School.
- Trades Union Congress.
- Women's Group on Public Welfare (England)
- Women's Peace Crusade.
- Women's Trade Union League.
Subjects:
- Children--Employment.
- Civil rights--Great Britain.
- Elections--Great Britain.
- Feminists.
- Insurance, Unemployment--Great Britain.
- Labor and laboring classes--Australia.
- Labor and laboring classes--Great Britain.
- Strikes and lockouts--Great Britain.
- Trade-unions--Great Britain--Societies, etc.
- Wage-price policy--Great Britain.
- Women and peace.
- Women in politics--Great Britain.
- Women social reformers.
- Women's rights--Great Britain.
- Women--Great Britain--Diaries.
- Women--Great Britain--Employment.
- Women--Great Britain--Societies and clubs.
- Women--Great Britain--Social conditions.
- World War, 1939-1945--Germany.
Places:
- Australia--Politics and government--1901-1945.
- Canada--Emigration and immigration.
- Germany--Economic conditions--1945-
- Germany--Social conditions--1945-
- Great Britain--Economic conditions--20th century.
- Great Britain--Emigration and immigration.
- Great Britain--Social conditions--20th century.
- Soviet Union--Description and travel.
- Soviet Union--Politics and government--1917-1936.
- United States--Description and travel.
Document Types:
- Diaries.
- Photoprints.
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Encoding Information
Encoded by Elizabeth Clarke, November 2006.
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Margaret Grace Bondfield Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
Processing Information
Original processing date unknown.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Estate of Helen Lockwood, VC 1912.
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Series List
Series I. Biographical Material and Ephemera (Boxes 1 and 12) |
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Series II. Family Material (Boxes 1-2) |
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Series III. Labour Party and Election Campaigns (Boxes 3-5) |
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Series IV. Russia, 1920 (Box 5A) |
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Series V. Trips to America and Folders on Organizations (Boxes 6, 6A and 7) |
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Series VI. Miscellaneous (Boxes 7-11) |
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Series VII. Books and other Published Material |
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