IIAV (W)
Obiplein 4 (6650820)
Mon 12.00-17.00, Tue 10.00-17.00, Wed-Fri 10.00-17.00
Housed in the beautifully converted Majellakerk, a listed neo-Byzantine church built in 1924, this international archives of the women's and lesbian's movement has an incredible collection of around 60,000 books and 600 subscriptions to journals, with the oldest material dating from 1578. It also has a fascinating history. Founded in 1935 by three feminists the entire collection was confiscated by the Nazi's in 1940, and ended up in Berlin. At the end of World War Two it disappeared, along with other archives, when the Russian army entered the city. Nothing more was heard of it until as recently as 1992 when the Russians authorities said they were prepared to negotiate the return of archive material seized by the Nazi's. The existing collection was restarted after the end of the war. Tragically, the archives' Jewish president and one of the original founders, Rosa Manus, was taken to Ravensbruck Concentration camp in 1940 where she died three years later.

HOMODOK-LESBISCH ARCHIEF AMSTERDAM (MIX)
Nieuwpoortkade 2 a (6060712)
Mon 12.00-17.00 Tue 10.00-17.00
Although a bit of a trek from the centre of town, there is a substantial range of (historical) material on lesbian women, history and culture (and not just from The Netherlands). As well as books, photographs, magazines and music (from Billy Holliday to kd lang) there is a large collection of videos – films, documentaries, soaps and home-made recordings – that are possible to watch (in the archives).

© 2007 Pip Farquharson