STEPHENSON, Eva and WILKINS, Maurice

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 106 7ESW
Held at	: Women's Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.lse.ac.uk/Library/Collections/Collection-highlights/The-Womens-Library ›
Full title	: STEPHENSON, Eva and WILKINS, Maurice
Date(s)	: 1910-1914
Level of description	: fonds
Extent	: 0.25 A box (1 folder)
Name of creator(s)	: Wilkins | Eva | fl 1913 | nee Stephenson | suffragette

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Eva Stephenson was an Irish suffragette, who was imprisoned in Holloway. After her prison sentence she lived in a small village, Delgany, in County Wicklow. She was employed in an office doing secretarial work. She married Maurice Wilkins, a teacher from Dublin, c.1913.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

The archive consists of correspondence between Eva Stephenson and her fiance Maurice Wilkins, covering the period 1910-1914. The letters describe Stephenson's experiences in Holloway prison for suffrage activism in 1910 (some letters are written on prison regulation notepaper), her life as an office worker and her family relationships. Subjects covered include: relationships with other suffragettes in prison; trials of the prison regime; Christmas in Holloway; her relationship with her mother who disapproved of her suffrage campaigning; reflections on her upbringing; employment in an office and enjoyment of her independence; her relationship with her future husband.

With typescript transcriptions of the letters by William Paul Wilkins, son of Eva and Maurice Wilkins (produced in 1998). The transcriptions include a name and place index.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

This collection is available for research. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Finding aids:

Collection level description available on-line on the Women's Library website

Archival Information

Archival history:

The letters were discovered under the stairs of the family home after the death of Maurice Wilkins.

Immediate source of acquisition:

WP Wilkins, deposited the archive with the Fawcett Library in Dec 1988.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Finding aid created by export from CALM v7.2.14 Archives Hub EAD2002. Edited for AIM25 by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions:
In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
25/02/2008