Feminist Theory Archive collection (Ms.2017.016)

Biographical/Historical note

Feminist Theory is defined as an extension of feminism, which believes in the equality of the sexes, into a theoretical, sociological, or philosophical discourse. It is a scholarly persuit that aims to understand the nature of gender inequality and covers fields like pyshoanalysis, philosophy, anthropology, biology, literature, education, economics, and many other fields.

The Feminist Theory Archive was established in 2003 by Elizabeth Weed, Director of the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women at Brown University (2000-2010), in order to document the work of influential feminist theorists who had transformed the landscape of higher education through their writing, teaching, institution building, and activism. Scholars such as Brown University Professor Naomi Schor, whose papers served as the seed collection for the archive, were first in their fields to approach their research subjects through the lens of gender. As an example, Schor's academic background was in French Literature but she focused her research on subjects such as female fetishism, deconstruction in literature, the concept of details and ornamentation as effeminate, and universalism in an era of identity politics and difference. Beginning in the 1960s, Schor then taught courses on these subjects and along with other groundbreaking feminist theorists such as Judith Butler and Anne Fausto-Sterling, caused a paradigm shift in the way scholars and students studied all fields of higher education including English, History, Anthropology, and Biology, placing sex and gender at the center of theorectical study.

Upon Naomi Schor's untimely death in 2001, Elizabeth Weed and other leadership from the Pembroke Center realized that evidence of her life and scholarship did not have an appropriate archival home. As a result, Weed and others conceptualized the idea to develop an archive for the papers of feminist theorists at the Pembroke Center and to house the collections and provide access to them through the John Hay special collections library at Brown University.

Since 2003, the collection has grown and now includes the papers of theorists across discplines including feminist theorists and other scholars of difference with specializations in queer theory, Black feminist theory, global feminisms and affect theory related to gender and sexuality studies.

The Feminist Theory Archive is curated by the Nancy L. Buc '65 LLD'94 hon Pembroke Center Archivist who works in close collaboration with the Director of the Pembroke Center, the Pembroke Center Faculty Board, and colleagues from the John Hay Library to select appropriate collections for inclusion. The principles that guide curatorial decision making for the Feminist Theory Archive are that scholars be senior in their fields or on a trajectory towards senior leadership and are groundbreakers -- theorists who have transformed and diversified the very meaning of “feminist” research through their lives and scholarship.

As of 2024, the Feminist Theory Archive continues to grow and places a particular emphasis on Black feminist theory and thinking, as part of the Pembroke Center’s Black Feminist Theory Project.

For more information about the Feminist Theory Archive, please see its website.