Records of women's history are often missing or obscured in archives such as these, but with creativity and persistence historians can do a lot to recognise the enormous contribution of women to our society in the past.
Archives are not neutral. We can’t keep everything so choices have to be made and those choices reflect the values of the people making the decisions about what to keep and what to discard. In the past people such as women, non-Europeans, Aborigines, the poor etc were not considered important contributors to our history so their stories are often not portrayed in archival records, or they were obscured in the archives by the social conventions of the time. If the archival records were taken at face value they would reveal a distorted view of the past. It is the job of historians to be alert to this distortion, to question the records and to look for the fleeting clues that indicate that there is something missing.
Women are often the subject of archival silences and diminution. I confronted this when researching for my honours thesis about the Queensland ‘Bible in State Schools’ referendum of 1910. In this article one of Brisbane’s major newspapers attributed the passing of the referendum to the role of women. Just five years previously most women in Queensland had been granted the right to vote at state polls. A statement in the Anglican Church’s newsletter, The Church Chronicle, indicated that women didn’t just vote, they immersed themselves in the campaigning work. This was an era when women were not considered important contributors to politics, yet they were being publicly acknowledged for their significant contribution by major media outlets. I wanted to know more. Continue reading
