Many people dropped by to see the library

I had prepared a small exhibition of some of the items from our collections, including an umbrella stand that had been painted by Suffragettes whilst they were imprisoned, anti-Suffragette postcards and second-wave feminist journals, badges and fanzines.

Hannah Frank‘s distinctive black and white prints had recently been donated to the library by her niece, Fiona, and these were on display. A few books and the architectural plans for the conversion of the Anderston section of the Mitchell Library were also available to view.

Preparing for Doors Open Day

Most people had never heard of the library or visited before, so it was exhilarating to talk about the purpose of the library, our work and to explain our vision for a new space. Everyone I spoke to was enthusiastic about the history of women in general and asked good questions; some people wanted to know more about voluntary work with the archive, others were interested in our lifelong learning programme, or attending a walking history tour. A couple of people were particularly interested in knitting and one woman walked in with a donation of 1930s and 40s Vogue knitting patterns!

Next year we should be in a position to put on a bigger exhibition and we will open all day – who knows maybe we’ll be welcoming people into our new space in the Mitchell!

A big thank you to all who came along – it was lovely to meet you all. Keep in touch.

Knitting Patterns. These were kindly donated by Nance Tosh

On Sunday, Sue and I were lucky enough to be invited to look through Hannah Frank’s book collection by her niece Fiona Frank. In case you haven’t heard of Hannah, she was a Glasgow artist and sculptor, who produced beautiful, haunting black and white drawings and incredible sculptures. She died in December 2008 at the age of 100. By all accounts an amazing woman, she continued to sculpt into her early 90s.

Hannah’s books themselves are gorgeous, but are made even more so by her personalised black and white ‘Ex libris’ bookplates. Many of them have beautiful, touching inscriptions from friends and family. It felt like such a privilege to look through Hannah’s books, as though we were getting an rare insight into her life as a young woman. As well as a lover of art, it’s clear that Hannah was a lover of books and language. Many of the books are from her student days at Glasgow University in the 1920s. What an achievement – to keep all your books together over a lifetime.

We’re over the moon to have some of Hannah’s books in our collection, and can’t wait to be in the new space where we can exhibit them.

In the meantime, if you’d like to find out more about Hannah’s life and her art, you can have a look at the following website:

http://hannahfrank.org.uk/pages/index.htm