The collections on this feminism comprise Léonie La Fontaine and Henri La Fontaine’s personal papers, which contain a wealth of documents on the first Belgian and international feminist organisations, and the collection of the Women’s Archives Office.
Léonie La Fontaine’s personal papers
Léonie La Fontaine (1857-1949) was a major figure in the Belgian feminist movement. Following the “Popelin Affair” — a lawyer who was refused access to the bar because she was a woman — Léonie and her brother helped create the first feminist organisation in Belgium in 1892, the Belgian League of Women’s Rights. She was active in the National Council of Belgian Women (founded in 1905), which she chaired from 1913, the International Council of Women, and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Convinced of the importance of education and knowledge, she was involved in the Mundaneum’s activities from the outset. In 1909, she created the Office of Women’s Archives.
The archives of the National Council of Belgian Women covering the inter-war period to the 1970s, and a collection of feminist documents compiled by Luce Hautier, who was a documentalist at the European Commission and active in a number of feminist associations, have been added to these collections.
