As archives and research centres close their doors due to the government’s corona virus measures, we wanted to remind you that you can see a selection of materials from the Nancy Astor Papers, held at the University of Reading Special Collections, which include an array of letters and documents, online.
The digital exhibition ‘An Unconventional MP’: The political career of Nancy Astor in 50 documents’, showcases documents from the Nancy Astor Papers that illustrate her political career and her legacy. The digital exhibition can be found in a weekly format on Twitter @LadyAstor100
The documents and images are from the Astor Papers and communicate key milestones in Astor’s career; they illustrate her legacy from her election in 1919, the anniversary of her maiden speech in February 1920 and through until her retirement in 1945. You may need to scroll down a little to find them, you will also find more than 50 as we uploaded some supporting material. Let us know if it is useful.
There is also a curated blog series written by academics, researchers and other contributors to the multiple Astor100 projects which accompany the digital exhibition. These can be found on the Astor100 web pages under the ‘News and Events’ header:
https://research.reading.ac.uk/astor100/category/news-and-events/
The Nancy Astor Papers are the most comprehensive collection of papers of any female politician and include political correspondence 1919–1945 and parliamentary papers, general correspondence 1900–1964 and a large volumes of newspaper cuttings 1908–1964. You can find our more about University of Reading Special Collections here
https://www.reading.ac.uk/special-collections/