Bekir Kemal Ataman's Articles

Poster presented at Workshop on Women in Industrial Engineering Academia, 7-10 July 2008, Ankara

BUILDING WOMEN'S MEMORY

by Bekir Kemal Ataman

Please click here for a 30 cm x 50 cm image of the poster (539K)

DEFINITION OF PROBLEM

Women researchers and women historians in Turkey, as in many other parts of the world, find that sources at their disposal rarely include gender-based classifications. Usually, the resources they need are hidden in archives of men. What is worse, much evidence relating to pioneering women has not been retained/has been destroyed/simply destroyed.

METHOD

Women's Library and Information Centre Foundation (WLIC) in Istanbul, aims to solve this problem by collecting works by women, as well as works about women. It is a non-governmental organisation founded and run by women volunteers and survives on donations.

PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

The Women's Library and Information Centre Foundation was founded on 14 April 1990 in order to understand the presence of women in history, to offer reliable information to women researchers and to preserve today's written documents for future generations. The Foundation resides in a historical building in Fener which was provided by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. It collects books, periodicals, newspaper clippings, articles and documents written by women and/or about women.

In its 19 years of history, the WLIC has achieved the following:

a. Collections

A collection of 10,018 books written by and/or on topics related to women
40 complete sets of Ottoman periodicals on topics related to women, published between 1867 and 1928, as well as 290 women's periodicals in modern Turkish, published since 1928; in addition to more than 130 women's periodicals in foreign languages
5,000 articles in Turkish, English, French and German
A collection of clippings from daily newspapers, weekly and monthly periodicals since 1990, classified and filed under 440 headings
Archives of Women's Associations and Organisations, carrying documents related to 33 women's organisation from the pre-Republican period and 544 women's organisations from the Republican period
Private archives collections of currently 44 pioneering women
Oral history collection: tape recordings of interviews with pioneering women
Biographical files of 780 women writers
Visual collection comprising 1023 photographs, 502 slides, 452 local and foreign posters and 241 postcards about women
Multimedia collection that comprises of 201 cassette tapes, 69 CDs and 84 video tapes
Ephemera collection that carries 300 documents in 133 boxes
Biographical files of and slides of art work belonging to 1749 women artists
Art collection, the core of which has been created by donations of women artists exhibiting at the library

b. Activities
A total of 310 events comprising:

Conferences and symposia (including international ones)
Panels
Festivals
Concerts
Exhibitions
etc.

c. Publications
i. An annual diary featuring women subjects:

ii. Books

Women's Memory (October 1992) [English/Turkish]
Bibliography of Women's Periodicals Published in Ottoman Script 1869-1927 (April 1993) [Turkish]
Institutionalising the Women's Movement and the Novel "Aşk-ı Vatan" [Love for the Country] (1994) [Turkish]
From Hanımlar Alemi to Roza, 1928-1996: Bibliography of Women's Periodicals (1998) [Turkish - Published with the contribution of the Economic and Social History Foundation of Turkey]
Women's Writings: Bibliography of Literary Products, 1955-1990 (2000) [Turkish - Published with the contribution of the Economic and Social History Foundation of Turkey]
National Bibliography of Books about Women, 1729-2002 (2006) [Turkish - Joint publication with İletişim Publications]

d. Information Services
THE library provides information on various topics concerning women, as well as contact information of numerous national and foreign institutions. The library is open Monday till Friday between 8:30 and 16:30.

SUMMARY OF WORK

This is the achievement of hundreds of volunteers and donors who have devoted their time and financial resources in order to make the library an increasingly important point of reference. It is also the result of the collaboration between the local government and the library as a non-governmental organisation in Turkey.

The Foundation's major sources of income are the sales of annual diaries, publications and postcards, as well as membership fees. Some publishing houses, bookstores and second-hand book dealers contribute to the library by providing books and magazines at reduced prices or free donations of books and documents which help to enrich the library's collection.

CONCLUSION

Books, brochures, annual reports, badges, calendars, postcards, banners, posters, photographs, leaflets, key rings and business cards of women's organisations, as well as personal contributions in the form of any kind of written, visual or audio-visual material about your own work on women's issues or your volunteer assistance are welcome at any time. So, please...

Donate
Encourage others to donate
Give financial support

Address: Kadir Has Caddesi, No: 8 (Fener İskelesi Karşısı), Fener - Haliç 34220 İstanbul, Turkey.
Phone: ( +90-212) 534 9550 - 523 7408 - 621 8134
E-mail: kadineserleri 'AT' gmail.com - kek 'AT' archimac.org
Web: http://www.kadineserleri.org

For donations: Türkiye Vakıflar Bankası, Etiler Branch, Acc. No: 200 91 97