Women's Voices in Ireland : Women's Magazines in the 1950s and 60s

Notes ## Bibliography Index system works like a dream -the material is there ready and waiting. The Reading Room is always pleasant and tranquil. I also caught the lovely walnut-desked British Newspaper Library at Colindale in London shortly before it closed. When the British Library's magazine collection was inaccessible for a while, and I needed to look at Woman's Own, I wrote to the magazine and a very helpful Carolyn Truscott responded. For a week in June 2013 she brought me down to a highly secure basement of the IPC building in Southwark, London, and locked me in for a few hours at a time with Woman's Own volumes and a bottle of water, letting me out every few hours for a run around. She was always helpful and pleasant and I thank her from the bottom of my heart. Norah Casey, CEO Harmonia Publishing, took time out of her busy schedule to talk to me in August 2013, and she was such a mine of information about the magazine publishing world that it occurred to me that somebody should undertake a history of women's magazines in general, on this island, and get her on record about the recent past. It was Professor John Horgan from DCU, former Press Ombudsman, who gave me the idea to talk to Norah, and he had some other very helpful suggestions too, for which I thank him. Thanks to NUI, Galway for giving me a sabbatical for the calendar year of 2013, in which I did the bulk of the research and much of the writing for this book. Thanks to all my colleagues in the history department at NUI, Galway, for enabling this to happen, and for being such a great bunch of people to work with. These are, in alphabetical order, "Women's Voices in Ireland examines the letters and problems sent in by women to two Irish women's magazines in the 1950s and 60s, discussing them within their wider social and historical context. In doing so, it provides a unique insight into one of the few forums for female expression in Ireland during this period. Although in these decades more Irish women than ever before participated in paid work, trade unions and voluntary organizations, their representation in politics and public and their workforce participation remained low. Meanwhile, women who came of age from the late 1950s experienced a freedom which their mothers and aunts--married or single, in the workplace or the home--had never known. Diary and letters pages and problem pages in Irish-produced magazines in the 1950s and 60s enabled women from all walks of life to express their opinions and to seek guidance on the social changes they saw happening around them. This book, by examining these communications, gives a new insight into the history of Irish women, and also contributes to the ongoing debate about what women's magazines mean for women's history"--From publisher's website Women's Voices in Ireland examines the letters and problems sent in by women to two Irish women's magazines in the 1950s and 60s, discussing them within their wider social and historical context. In doing so, it provides a unique insight into one of the few forums for female expression in Ireland during this period. Although in these decades more Irish women than ever before participated in paid work, trade unions and voluntary organizations, their representation in politics and public and their workforce participation remained low. Meanwhile, women who came of age from the late 1950s experienced a freedom which their mothers and aunts - married or single, in the workplace or the home - had never known. Diary and letters pages and problem pages in Irish-produced magazines in the 1950s and 60s enabled women from all walks of life to express their opinions and to seek guidance on the social changes they saw happening around them. This book, by examining these communications, gives a new insight into the history of Irish women, and also contributes to the ongoing debate about what women's magazines mean for women's history.