Tanner Project to catalogue Cornish women's library

The Hypatia Trust has launched a new project to catalogue the Elizabeth Treffry Collection on Women in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Thanks to a £5000 grant from the Tanner Trust, this important collection of 3000 books and archives will be catalogued to modern library and archive standards. The collection currently lives at Trevelyan House on Chapel Street in Penzance, the headquarters of the Hypatia Trust.

Dr. Tehmina Goskar will direct the Tanner Project which formally begins this week. She said, "Building on the success of History 51, our public engagement project to promote women's heritage in Cornish communities, the Tanner Project will ensure that the books, papers and ephemera we collect and that get donated to Hypatia will be properly recorded so researchers and students can use this important resource. Properly documented, the Elizabeth Treffry Collection could be the seed of a future women's library in Cornwall."

Researchers can visit the collection by email appointment but access may not always be possible during the cataloguing process.

West Cornish library retreat

Letter from Roo Gunzi

The Jamieson Library has been both a vital resource and a home-from-home over the past year. My ongoing PhD work into Stanhope Forbes’s early paintings has meant frequent and often extended periods in Penzance undertaking archival research at local galleries, libraries, and archive centres. As a self-contained rural abode, the Library accommodation and book-filled workspace offers the seclusion and tranquility required for study, and is well-placed for access to all sites of local artistic and historic interest.

Given the almost prohibitive cost of holiday lodgings during summer months, the Jamieson exists as a valuable, alternative, and realistic option for students wishing to reside in Cornwall for short-term study. I have found the experience, both of staying at the Library and being immersed in the Cornish landscape, both invaluable and liberating. It has given me the freedom to be able to work, as well as see and explore West Penwith at my leisure.

The Jamieson Library of Women's History is a scholar's paradise situated in the village of Newmill a few miles north of Penzance. Visits can be arranged by appointment through the Hypatia Trust and the library is also open to residential scholars.

For enquiries:

The Old Post Office, Newmill, Penzance, Cornwall, TR20 8XN Tel: 01736-360549 Fax: 01736-330704 email: info@hypatia-trust.org.uk