Golden Horn home to Turkey’s first and only library of women

The library houses books, paintings and journals by successful women and has an archive of 11,000 books. It is situated on the coast of the Golden Horn at Fener and was founded in 1990.

 So what were the motives in establishing such a library when women's works are usually displayed in libraries without discrimination? Open the door and step into the world of women artists, writers, singers, lawyers, mathematicians, historians and their history, and take a look at what they created regardless of the hardships life presented to them.

 Women activists were already saving brochures, leaflets and banners they had used in their demonstrations in 1980s. They had decided that they wanted to record the events but realized none of them could remember the events completely. They put much effort into finding out the dates and places of events because it meant a lot to these women, to let their voice be heard and not to let their struggles be forgotten. But even so, they were beginning to forget what had happened and the struggles they had been through.

They decided to put their heads together with the support of European women. They asked themselves how women activists in Europe had documented their demonstrations. The answer could only be found by visiting women's libraries across Europe and in the US. They traveled to such countries as Holland, France and England to collect information. With the information they gathered, they planned the organization they were going to form in Turkey, and the organization was announced in the Official Gazette. “There was still a long way to go, a lot of problems awaited us,” states Imren Sipahi, a member of the board of directors. “Initially there was the problem of finding money and a place to administrate the organization. The money was obtained by feminists and sponsors but finding a building for the organization was still a problem and it was a problem not to be underestimated because it was a small, newly founded organization without much money,” she said.

“We kept asking ourselves how we could find a suitable place. There was a newly restored historical building on the coast of the Golden Horn. It was exactly the empty building we were seeking to fit our needs. The mayor of the time, Nurettin Sözen, agreed to assign the building to our organization. He agreed to do this, but also added it was too big a building for such a small group,” she adds. The women, of course, knew they were a small group but they could also foresee that they would grow fast and requested the use of the whole building.

On April 14, 1990, the library was officially opened in its restored historical building. The press and civil society organizations attended the inauguration ceremony. “Women loved it. Historians, women or not, stated that the library would be indispensable,” Sipahi explains. “The first thing we did was to get in touch with the women's libraries of such countries as Finland, England and France and create a women's library chain.” During the library's first year, an international symposium was organized and women activists and librarians from all over the world attended. Unlike some other such libraries in the world, the library in Turkey also issues publications. One of the works the library publishes is the annual illustrated diaries. These diaries provide information about pioneering women. “That is why the diaries are also collected by collectors." Some of the diaries contain profiles of women artists, women photographers, women filmmakers, women ceramicists, İstanbul and women and women and their clothing from the Ottomans to today. We are now preparing the 21st diary for our 21st year with the theme of ‘Women's organizations and journals in the Ottoman period',” Sipahi said.

“You may be surprised, but Ottoman intellectuals closely observed the acts for women that took place all over the world," she noted, adding that the library hosts an extensive Ottoman corpus on women. She also said Ottoman intellectuals took part in international meetings on women and they were particularly interested in the condition of women in society. One of these meetings was held in the Ottoman State in 1911, named the White Conference, and its purpose was to maintain peace with the active participation of women. The Ottomans were able to look at the acts for women and women's suffrage rights from around the world.

Armenian woman’s journals discovered in dusty attic

The library's 11,000 books were either donated to the library by such organizations as fashion houses or they were bought through auctions from second-hand booksellers with the money earned from the library's publications. The library also has a special archive where the lives and works of pioneering women are displayed. “To create this archive, we went to the places these women lived or to their families to ask them to help enrich our library. The truth is that family members do not usually look after the possessions of these women after their death, they tend to sell them or distribute them to other family members. So, we visited these people, hoping that these possessions had not been not lost or sold to collectors. We obtained an Armenian woman's journals in this way. It was amazing to wipe the dust off those old journals and bring them back to life.”

Past and current library activities

The library also has an İstanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture project. There will be a symposium on Aug. 15 with the theme of pioneering women, as well as panels and conferences on women. The library has different types of activities that take place frequently. For example, it organizes trips for women to places related to women, such as a mosque, a drinking fountain or a manor built by a woman.

The library features beautiful paintings on its walls and in the reading room there is a magnificent piano on which stands a figurine given to the library just two weeks ago by one of the first woman sculptors in Turkey, Zerrin Bölükbaşı, who is now, unfortunately, seriously ill. The name of the figurine is “Bale.” It stands with all its beauty in the middle of a wonderful and historical hall.