The Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand is a specialized public library run by the municipal library system of the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 city of Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Created from a massive collection started in 1897 by journalist and activist Marguerite Durand

Marguerite Durand

Marguerite Durand was a French stage actress, journalist, and a leading suffragette.-Biography:Born into a middle-class family, Marguerite Durand was sent to study at a Roman Catholic convent...

, the Library opened in 1931 at 79 rue Nationale in Paris. It holds a collection of materials on feminism

Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

 and the struggle of French suffragette

Suffragette

"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...

s for equality. The collection contains biographies, manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and more than 25,000 books dating back to the 17th century plus 4,000 pieces of correspondence written by prominent women.

Among the books and papers that can be found in the library are materials from women authors, artists, scientists, explorers, politicians, journalists and other notable females including Madame de Staël, Colette

Colette

Colette was the surname of the French novelist and performer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette . She is best known for her novel Gigi, upon which Lerner and Loewe based the stage and film musical comedies of the same title.-Early life and marriage:Colette was born to retired military officer Jules-Joseph...

, Marie Bashkirtseff

Marie Bashkirtseff

Marie Bashkirtseff was a Ukrainian-born diarist, painter and sculptor....

, Séverine

Severine

Severine or Séverine can refer to:* the nom de plume of the French journalist Caroline Rémy de Guebhard* a pseudonym of the Hungarian model Eve Angel...

, Gyp

Gyp

Gyp may refer to:* A cheat or swindle* Gyp, the French writer and activist, Sibylle Gabrielle Marie Antoinette Riqueti de Mirabeau * Gypsophila, a flower* Gyp the Blood, a gangster* Gyp the Cat, a song by Bobby Darin...

, Alexandra David-Néel

Alexandra David-Néel

Alexandra David-Néel born Louise Eugénie Alexandrine Marie David was a Belgian-French explorer, spiritualist, Buddhist and writer, most known for her visit to Lhasa, Tibet, in 1924, when it was forbidden to foreigners...

, Maria Deraismes

Maria Deraismes

Maria Deraismes was a French author and major pioneering force for women's rights.- Biography :Born in Paris, Maria Deraismes grew up in Pontoise in the city's northwest outskirts...

, Clémence Royer

Clémence Royer

Clémence Royer was a self-taught French scholar who lectured and wrote on economics, philosophy, science and feminism...

 and Olympe de Gouges

Olympe de Gouges

Olympe de Gouges , born Marie Gouze, was a French playwright and political activist whose feminist and abolitionist writings reached a large audience....

.