International Archives for the Women's Movement
Professional services
UnclaimedA Dutch archival institution founded in 1935 to collect, preserve, and make accessible the documentary heritage of women's movements.
Last updated August 25, 2026
AI crawler reads
No AI crawler has read this profile yet.
Overview
The International Archives for the Women's Movement, commonly known by its Dutch initials IAV, was a pioneering Amsterdam-based repository dedicated to documenting women's history and the international women's movement. It was established on 3 December 1935 by three Dutch feminists whose complementary experience shaped its mission: Rosa Manus, an international suffrage and peace activist; Johanna Naber, a historian and collector of women's-movement publications; and Willemijn Posthumus-van der Goot, an economist interested in the history of women's paid work. The founders sought to preserve books, pamphlets, periodicals, correspondence, photographs, manuscripts, and organizational records that were often neglected by conventional archives. The IAV initially operated in rooms provided by the newly established International Institute of Social History at Keizersgracht 264 in Amsterdam. Its international orientation was reflected in correspondence with women's organizations across Europe and beyond, collecting materials in several languages, exchange relationships with institutions such as the Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand in Paris and the Fawcett Library in London, and an international advisory board that included prominent figures from the suffrage, peace, and women's-rights movements. By the end of the 1930s, its holdings included approximately 4,500 books and brochures and about 150 periodicals from around twenty countries, alongside rare and historically significant works by authors including Mary Astell and Mary Wollstonecraft and documents associated with figures such as Jane Austen. The archive suffered a major wartime catastrophe after Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940. German security officials confiscated approximately forty boxes of archival material, as well as furnishings and other property, in July of that year. The seizure was connected to the archive's international, feminist, pacifist, and partly Jewish leadership, particularly Rosa Manus, who was later murdered at Ravensbrück concentration camp. The confiscated materials were transferred through Berlin and German-occupied Czechoslovakia before being captured by the Red Army and placed in Moscow's Osobyi Archive. Only a small fraction was recovered immediately after the war. Willemijn Posthumus-van der Goot reopened the institution in 1947 and pursued restitution, but for decades the bulk of the collection was presumed lost. Interest in the archive revived during the second-wave feminist movement. Dutch women's-history scholars and university groups renewed demand for access to sources on women's lives, including the experiences of working-class women, and government subsidies enabled the IAV to resume systematic collecting in the early 1980s. In 1988, the IAV merged with the Documentation Centre for the Women's Movement and the journal Lover to create the International Information Centre and Archives for the Women's Movement, or IIAV. The recovered IAV materials formed the foundation of the successor's archival holdings. A substantial part of the wartime collection was identified in Moscow in the early 1990s. Researchers documented thousands of files and images, while microfilming helped make the material accessible during prolonged negotiations. Twenty-two boxes were returned to the Netherlands in 2002, and a further nine boxes followed in 2003. Additional books bearing IAV or Rosa Manus markings were returned from Berlin in 2015. The institution that housed the collection adopted the name Atria Institute on Gender Equality and Women's History in 2013. Although the IAV no longer operates as an independent institution, its legacy survives through the preserved collection and the continuing research, documentation, and public-history work of Atria.
History
The IAV emerged from interwar efforts to create a durable international research resource on women's lives and organized activism. Johanna Naber had already collected feminist publications and advocated a dedicated women's-history resource. Rosa Manus brought extensive connections to international suffrage and peace organizations, while Willemijn Posthumus-van der Goot contributed economic and social research interests, particularly concerning women's employment. Together they persuaded the International Institute of Social History to provide space in Amsterdam, and formally founded the IAV in December 1935. The archive's collecting policy was deliberately international and multilingual. Its organizers contacted women's organizations and individual activists in English, French, and German, requesting books, journals, brochures, letters, photographs, and other records. Reciprocal relationships with established women's libraries in Paris and London reinforced the institution's role as part of a wider archival network. An international advisory board connected the IAV to leading suffragists, feminists, peace campaigners, and women's-rights advocates. Within a few years, the holdings had expanded to thousands of books and pamphlets and periodicals from numerous countries. A multilingual yearbook, launched by 1937, further expressed the institution's transnational purpose. World War II interrupted international exchanges and placed the collection in danger. In an attempt to protect her own papers and library, Manus incorporated them into the IAV holdings. Following the German occupation of the Netherlands, officials inspected the archive and confiscated its materials in July 1940. The collection was transported to Germany and later to territory occupied by Germany in Czechoslovakia. The Red Army subsequently captured the materials and transferred them to the Soviet special archive in Moscow. The precise motives for the Nazi seizure remain debated, but the archive's feminist, pacifist, international, and partly Jewish associations made it politically vulnerable. Manus was later killed at Ravensbrück. Posthumus-van der Goot reopened the IAV in 1947 and began efforts to recover the stolen material. A limited quantity was returned in the late 1940s, and several individual books surfaced in Czechoslovakia during the 1960s. The organization also pursued postwar compensation, while assuming that most of the archive had disappeared. For several decades, collecting slowed, although some publications were produced and the organization moved between premises. The rise of second-wave feminism in the 1970s changed the institutional environment. Scholars and women's-history groups began looking for sources beyond the established canon of prominent activists, including records documenting ordinary and working-class women. A professional inventory was completed in 1980, and the IAV moved to larger premises in 1981. Renewed public support and Dutch government subsidies allowed systematic acquisitions to resume. In 1988 the IAV joined the Documentation Centre for the Women's Movement and the journal Lover in forming the International Information Centre and Archives for the Women's Movement. This successor organization expanded the archival mission while retaining the historic IAV collection as its core. The recovery story took a major turn in 1992 when reports identified IAV material in Moscow. Researchers Mineke Bosch and Myriam Everard examined the holdings and documented hundreds of dossiers, photographs, and papers, including important material connected with Rosa Manus. Negotiations between Dutch and Russian authorities were slowed by administrative and political obstacles. To improve research access while restitution was pending, the International Institute for Social History microfilmed thousands of images. Twenty-two boxes were returned in 2002, followed by nine more in 2003. Further restitution continued in smaller instances, including the return of nine books from Berlin in 2015. In 2013, the successor institution became Atria Institute on Gender Equality and Women's History, placing the IAV legacy within a broader contemporary program of gender-equality research, documentation, and public engagement.
- 2013
Successor institution renamed Atria
[1]The institution preserving the collection became the Atria Institute on Gender Equality and Women's History.
- 2003
Final identified Moscow boxes returned
[1]The last nine boxes of the identified material were sent to the Netherlands and reunited with the collection.
- 1992
Moscow holdings identified
[1]Researchers and public reporting revealed that a substantial part of the missing collection was held in Moscow.
- 1988
Merged into the IIAV
[1]The IAV, the Documentation Centre for the Women's Movement, and Lover combined to form the International Information Centre and Archives for the Women's Movement.
- 1980
First professional inventory completed
[1]A professional inventory improved intellectual control and research access to the surviving holdings.
- 1947
Archive reopened
[1]Willemijn Posthumus-van der Goot reopened the institution and began organized efforts to recover the stolen materials.
- 1940
Collection confiscated during Nazi occupation
[1]German officials seized most of the archive's holdings and transported them through Germany and occupied Czechoslovakia.
- 1937
Multilingual yearbook established
[1]The archive introduced a multilingual yearbook to reinforce its international collecting and research mission.
- 1935
IAV founded in Amsterdam
[1]Rosa Manus, Johanna Naber, and Willemijn Posthumus-van der Goot established the International Archives for the Women's Movement on 3 December.
Products and positioning
A specialist, internationally oriented archival institution preserving the documentary heritage of women's movements and making feminist history available for scholarship and public education.
Historical archive · 1935
Archival collection
The IAV collected documentary evidence of women's organizations, campaigns, intellectual work, and everyday lives. Its holdings included books, brochures, periodicals, letters, photographs, manuscripts, organizational records, and personal papers from the Netherlands and many other countries.
Research publication · 1937
International yearbook
A multilingual yearbook introduced during the archive's early years helped communicate its international purpose and supported the circulation of information about women's movements and their documentary resources.
Archival service · 1935
Research and reference access
The institution provided researchers with organized access to sources on feminism, suffrage, peace activism, women's employment, and women's history. Inventories and later microfilming helped preserve and consult materials affected by wartime displacement.
Brand decisions
2002
Pursue staged restitution of Moscow-held materialsOtherBackground
Negotiations over records removed during World War II were delayed by administrative and political obstacles.
Action taken
Dutch and Russian authorities proceeded with the return of twenty-two boxes, while additional boxes remained temporarily unprocessed.
Aftermath
The remaining nine boxes were returned in 2003, although the full prewar collection was not recovered.
1988
Merge with related women's-information organizationsStrategyBackground
The IAV sought greater capacity, space, and public access as renewed feminist scholarship increased demand for women's-history documentation.
Action taken
It merged with the Documentation Centre for the Women's Movement and the journal Lover to establish the International Information Centre and Archives for the Women's Movement.
Aftermath
The historic IAV holdings became the foundation of a broader archival and information institution.
Sources1 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/international-archives-for-the-womens-movement · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled