Ljiljana Maletin Vojvodić //
The Marguerite Durand Library (BMD) is a unique institution within the French public system – a reference point for the study of women’s history, feminism, and gender studies. It was founded in 1932, thanks to a donated collection given to the City of Paris by the famous feminist journalist, politician, and activist Marguerite Durand (1864–1936). As the only public library in France entirely dedicated to the history of women and the feminist movement, BMD is renowned and respected among researchers not only in France but around the world. I was guided through this fascinating institution and its archives by Marilou Clair, whose knowledge, enthusiasm, and dedication to her work at BMD left a lasting impression.
„I love libraries, and feminism is important to me. So, is there a better job than working at the Marguerite Durand Library?“ Marilou says with a smile as she leads me through the archive.
She shows me bound volumes of La Fronde – a symbol of women’s autonomy and resistance, founded by Marguerite Durand at the end of the 19th century and entirely written, edited, and printed by women – and then one of her favorite and extremely important books: the first obstetrics book to include anatomical data, written by Louise Bourgeois (1563–1636), midwife to Queen Marie de Medici, and published in 1609.
This elegantly bound volume contains various observations on infertility, miscarriage, fertility, childbirth, and diseases affecting women and newborns. The book marked a break from the medical literature of its time as it was written in a way that made it accessible to other midwives, while shedding light on issues related to the status of women. Louise Bourgeois emphasized that, as a woman, she had a better understanding of the female body. She identified the role of malnutrition in fetal health and was the first to prescribe iron to treat anemia. She stressed the importance of anatomical knowledge for midwives and appealed to doctors to allow them to attend lectures and dissections. She paid particular attention to pain relief, which was virtually unheard of at the time. She also suggested recipes to stimulate or stop milk production, as well as to treat breast conditions. She did not hesitate to write that she had performed an operation that saved a mother from certain death, thus raising the then-scandalous topic of therapeutic abortion.
Marilou shows me letters written by Louise Michel, the French revolutionary, anarchist, and feminist—one of the key figures of the Paris Commune (1871)—from prison in Versailles after being arrested during the Commune. Then she points out a poster of Olympe de Gouges and introduces me to the work and biography of Séverine, revealing the complexity and richness of feminist thought throughout history.
Louise Michel spent her life unwaveringly fighting for the rights of the poor, universal education, the abolition of the death penalty, and women’s equality. During the Paris Commune, she served as a nurse and fought on the barricades. Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793), meanwhile, was a pioneer of political thought and one of the first women to openly advocate for women’s rights during the French Revolution. Her most famous work, The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen (1791), called for full legal and political equality for women—including voting rights, access to education, property ownership, and political participation. “If a woman has the right to climb the scaffold, she must also have the right to mount the rostrum,” she wrote. Olympe was executed by guillotine in 1793 for her convictions and political courage.
Marguerite Durand and Séverine were contemporaries, yet different in style and background – both were journalists, feminists, and women who dared to speak publicly at a time when women rarely had such an opportunity.
“We know nothing about the extraordinary activities of women, and even feminists ignore three-quarters of what their foremothers, their mothers… or their contemporaries have done, in every sphere of human endeavor,” said Marguerite Durand in 1932, summarizing in one sentence what would become the foundation of the mission of the library that now bears her name.
Marguerite Durand, born in Paris in 1864, began her career as an actress at the Comédie-Française but soon turned to journalism and political activism. In 1897, she launched the newspaper La Fronde, in which women did everything—from writing and editing to printing and distributing. Through this pioneering project, Durand showed that women not only had something to say but could also independently run their own media outlet. She fought for women’s education, access to professions such as law and medicine, political participation, and union organizing. Over the course of her life, she collected a vast amount of documents, books, posters, and letters devoted to women’s history, which she donated to the City of Paris in 1931. This collection became the foundation of the Marguerite Durand Library, established in 1932 and still bearing her name today.
Séverine, born Caroline Rémy de Guebhard (1855–1929), was one of the first women in France to work professionally as a political journalist. She wrote for the socialist newspaper Le Cri du Peuple, which she later edited after the death of its founder, Jules Vallès. She was a voice for the oppressed: writing about poverty, prostitution, workers’ rights, prisoners, colonialism, and antisemitism. She was a feminist in the broadest and most radical sense—fighting for women’s right to vote, access to education, and public visibility.
Today, the BMD archive holds more than 50,000 books and brochures, covering a wide range of topics: from feminist theory and social struggles to biographies and testimonies of activists, as well as art, science, sports, and travel—from the 17th century to the present day. There are also 1,770 titles of women’s and feminist periodicals, including rare and valuable examples such as La Spectatrice (1728–1729), La Femme libre (1832–1834), and La Voix des femmes (1848).
The library also houses an impressive collection of 5,000 documentation files, organized by individuals and themes, with origins dating back to the founding of La Fronde. Among the most precious materials are 5,500 autograph letters and manuscripts by women such as George Sand, Colette, Louise Michel, Sarah Bernhardt, Alexandra David-Néel, and many others. The visual archive includes 4,500 photographs, 2,800 postcards, 1,200 posters, along with numerous drawings, engravings, and illustrated newspapers. The library also preserves over 80 archival collections of feminist organizations and prominent figures, artworks, a bust of Marguerite Durand sculpted by Léopold Bernstamm, and even propaganda items—such as suffragette fans and pins.
This treasure trove of knowledge is not frozen in the past. The Marguerite Durand Library operates as a living institution. Its collection is constantly expanding—through acquisitions, donations, and the integration of new archival materials—keeping pace with contemporary production on women’s issues, gender equality, and social change. In doing so, the library preserves and honors the past while remaining in active dialogue with the present.
In addition to continuously enriching its holdings, the library offers public access to its catalog and digital editions. More than 8,200 documents are available online, and all public domain materials can be downloaded in high resolution. The library is open to the public with free membership, operating five days a week: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 1 PM to 6 PM, and Wednesday from 10 AM to 6 PM.
Furthermore, BMD regularly organizes exhibitions, lectures, meetings, and workshops, actively contributing to the spread of knowledge and understanding of women’s history. All updates, information about new collections, and upcoming events can be found on the L’Effet Marguerite blog on the Hypothèses platform, as well as on social media and via newsletter.
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