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STICHWORT's Gray Literature

Bright Pearls in the Treasure Chest:
STICHWORT's Gray Literature

Margit Hauser in:
STICHWORT Newsletter 4/1997
Margit Hauser describes a main force behind STICHWORT's collection, the various, unpublished documents; the brochures, essays, and typed scripts found in the "ominous gray steel closet" of the reading room. The name "Gray Literature" may seem vague or dull, but this section of the archive contains highly valued, unique, not for sale, rare, and possibly otherwise unavailable works. The sources may or may not give indications of places, dates, and authors documenting existing, disbanded, or non-traceable women's groups. Opening this ominous closet reveals the path from inception and internal reflection on women's issues to publication and contains early manifestos, program and working papers, United Nations' reports on the condition of women, protocols and reports of Austrian women's conferences and informational brochures from the national and international women's movement.

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Hauser also describes gray literature as a link between archive and library, documenting the results of academic studies and pointing to new areas of research. Since the onset of the Women's Studies discipline at the University of Vienna, STICHWORT has collected women-specific masters' theses, dissertations and interesting essays. The collection of gray literature is by no means a closed book and contributions are always welcome. Like every monograph, the gray literature has been carefully catalogued according to author, title, and subject in the STICHWORT databank.
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