"The history of all times, and particularly the history of the present, teaches us that whoever forgets her own story will be forgotten by history."

Louise Otto-Peters
in: Frauen-Zeitung, Nr. 1 vom 21. April 1849, S. 1

History

At the end of the 19th century, the very first women's archives and libraries were founded. In 1890, a women's lending library containing library containing fictional and nonfictional material was managed by the "Kaufmännischer Verein der weiblichen Angestellten" (commercial association of female clerks) in Berlin.

By about 1910, one tenth of the local chapters of the "Bund deutscher Frauenvereine" (umbrella organisation of German women's associations) had their own library.

[Foto aus: Hof-Atelier Elvira 1887-1928, hrsg. von Rudolf Herz u. Brigitte Bruns, München 1985, S. XIV (Privatbesitz Gabriele Braun-Schwarzenstein)]

By the end of the Twenties, at least two women's archives had been founded: the first had developed from the "Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein" in Leipzig, the "Deutscher Staatsbürgerinnenverband" managed archives and a library in Berlin.

The advent of National Socialism in Germany caused an abrupt break in this development; during Worl War II, many of the by then considerable collections were destroyed or scattered. After the war the "Helene-Lange-Archiv" in Berlin was stocked with remnants of the "Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine".

This is where i.d.a. comes in... The historical moment in 1968, when female student Sigrid Rüger threw a tomato at male representatives of the student-movement's conference in Frankfurt/M., needs to be remembered as one of the most spectacular events which started off the new German women's movement. Flyers and newspaper clippings on provocative feminist activities were produced but not yet seen as collectibles. Therefore the foundation of women's archives and a women's library was demanded during the first "Women's Summer University" in West-Berlin in 1976.

As a consequence, Antje Finger established the "Kassandra-Archiv" of feminist art in Berlin in 1977. The Lesbian Action Center (LAZ) began to collect their documents, which, in 1978, were integrated into the newly founded "Frauenforschungs-, bildungs- und -informationszentrum FFBIZ" (women's center for research, education and information) in Berlin. Women in other cities followed in establishing new women's archives and libraries.

At the moment there are about 70 German-language institutions in (East- and West-) Germany, within and outside of universities, in Austria and Switzerland. They have diverse collections of books about women in our society.

Representatives have been meeting twice a year since 1983 for reasons of professionel exchange and networking. More than ten years later - in 19994 - i.d.a. was founded out of this informal networking context, as a formal umbrella organisation.

[Foto: Privatbesitz Irene Franken]

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