Thematic research collections and women's studies

This article reflects on the many challenges (financial, practical, and epistemological) facing the producers of digital thematic collections while proposing ways in which to navigate these same challenges. Drawing on current trends in academic librarianship and archive management, as well as the author's experiences gained while managing a digital collection of early twentieth-century newspapers (The Modernist Journals Project), the article defines and discusses thematic collections of primary texts; metadata; preservation and access; collaboration; project sustainability; and implications for women's studies. In so doing, the article addresses the ways in which Feminisms and Print Culture 1830s–1930s, a proposed collaborative multi-media project dedicated to international women's history, feminisms, and print media in the 19th and early 20th centuries, can be the inheritor of the best standards and practices offered by previous projects while avoiding some of their challenges.