The women who left information about their life and work in the International Institute of Social History were generally involved in the labour movement and other social movements. They were writers, journalists, newspaper publishers, politicians, historians, teachers, artists, nurses or philosophers. They campaigned for humane working conditions and fair wages, for peace, human rights, sexual reform, the improvement of education, health care, or better housing. They were socialists, Marxists, Trotskyists or anarchists. Among them were women's rights campaigners, feminists and suffragists. In some cases they were secretaries or translators assisting prominent writers or politicians, but often they were important thinkers or activists in their own right.
These individuals and their organizations are listed here to provide an overview of the primary sources for the history of women and work in the archives and manuscript collections of the IISH. They contain additional entries for women whose papers are part of the archives of their correspondents or relatives, and some introductory biographical and bibliographical notes.