There is a museum of female emancipation: The Women’s Library

Artefacts housed in The Women’s Library include Emily Wilding Davison’s purse, which she had with her when she was trampled to death by King George V’s horse. Photograph: Teri Pengilley

I was sorry to read that Deborah Orr thinks there has never been “a museum dedicated to the evolution of female emancipation” (Forget the V&A, 7 November). The Women’s Library, whose original collections were those of the female suffrage petitioners of 1866, is an accredited national museum as well as a library and archive, and its contents cover changes in women’s lives from the 18th century to the present day. It was forced to leave its purpose-built and Heritage Lottery-funded premises in London Metropolitan University in 2013, but is now housed at the LSE, where a new exhibition space on the ground floor of the main Library building is open to all. Exhibitions in 2016 will celebrate women’s work for peace and equality, as well as the 150th anniversary of the 1866 petition to parliament which led to the founding of today’s Fawcett Society.
Dr Anne Summers
Chair, Friends of The Women’s Library