Women´s Movements. Digital Archive and Historiography

The research project is dedicated to the historiographical and documentary-based analysis of women`s movements in the period 1848-1938. A joint endeavor of Ariadne, the women`s and gender documentation center at the Austrian National Library, and the Department of Contemporary History of Vienna University, the project is composed of two complementary parts. The project design ensures interdisciplinary cooperation of historical science and information and documentation science necessary for resolving the assigned task. The historiographical part will provide a conspectus and an analysis of research perspectives on the history of women`s movements of both the Habsburg Monarchy and the inter-war period in Austria. In doing so it will draw upon and evaluate the existing digital archive "Frauen in Bewegung. Diskurse und Dokumente der österreichischen historischen Frauenbewegung 1848-1918" ("Women in Motion. Discourses and Documents Relating to the Austrian Historical Women`s Movement 1848-1918) (http://www.onb.ac.at/ariadne/vfb/index.htm (8. IV 2005)) created by Ariadne. The documentary part of the project is an enhancement of the digital archive on women`s movements covering the period 1918-1938. This specific way of interlinking documentation science-based analysis and historiographical contextualization promises a more precise formulation of the two approaches ensuring expert discussion which exceeds the boundaries of particular disciplines. This enables the digital archive to be formally modified, enriched by the historical perspective and chronologically enhanced in a collective discussion process already in the status of coming into being. As the primary goal of the interdisciplinary collaboration the creation of the digital archive will be accompanied by a printed publication. Since research stretches to the territory of the former Habsburg Monarchy and thus exceeds state boundaries, it will be necessary to collaborate with scholarly and research institutions located in the new member states of the European Union.

The research project is dedicated to the historiographical and documentary-based analysis of women`s movements in the period 1848-1938. A joint endeavor of Ariadne, the women`s and gender documentation center at the Austrian National Library, and the Department of Contemporary History of Vienna University, the project is composed of two complementary parts. The project design ensures interdisciplinary cooperation of historical science and information and documentation science necessary for resolving the assigned task. The historiographical part will provide a conspectus and an analysis of research perspectives on the history of women`s movements of both the Habsburg Monarchy and the inter-war period in Austria. In doing so it will draw upon and evaluate the existing digital archive "Frauen in Bewegung. Diskurse und Dokumente der österreichischen historischen Frauenbewegung 1848-1918" ("Women in Motion. Discourses and Documents Relating to the Austrian Historical Women`s Movement 1848-1918") (http://www.onb.ac.at/ariadne/ vfb/index.htm (8. IV 2005)) created by Ariadne. The documentary part of the project is an enhancement of the digital archive on women`s movements covering the period 1918-1938. This specific way of interlinking documentation science-based analysis and historiographical contextualization promises a more precise formulation of the two approaches ensuring expert discussion which exceeds the boundaries of particular disciplines. This enables the digital archive to be formally modified, enriched by the historical perspective and chronologically enhanced in a collective discussion process already in the status of coming into being. As the primary goal of the interdisciplinary collaboration the creation of the digital archive will be accompanied by a printed publication. Since research stretches to the territory of the former Habsburg Monarchy and thus exceeds state boundaries, it will be necessary to collaborate with scholarly and research institutions located in the new member states of the European Union.