Victorian Women Changemakers

Students from the University of York have been working with the Herstory.York project and York Castle Museum gathering the ‘herstories’ of women who made an impact during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Exhibition opens 9 March 2022

The HERSTORY.YORK exhibition opens at the Castle Museum, York during York International Women’s Week 2022. Philip Newton, Community Engagement Researcher at York Museums Trust said: “We are honoured to be working with HERSTORY.YORK on this exhibition and are proud to bring such a meaningful and inspiring display to our visitors. The HERSTORY.YORK project is an […]

Heritage Fund success!

Herstory.York have been awarded a grant by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This funding will allow us to build on the work of the project, in particular to develop a book and educational resources in partnership with local history teachers through Yorkclio.

Barbara Cass, Sculptor

Barbara Cass (1921 – 1992) was born in Berlin, Germany. She studied sculpture in Berlin and came to Britain in 1950. Her friend and pupil, Juliane Montgomery, says ‘’Barbara offered me a twelve-month apprenticeship. She was normally quite a solitary person – often showing a bit of a rough exterior to the world – so […]

Zoe Bounds, Chair of York Breast Friends

After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, and in response to the lack of non-medical based support in the York area for those with a breast cancer diagnosis, Zoe and her friend Rachel founded York Breast Friends. They believe that peer support is very important, having received “amazing support” from an online forum following […]

‘Epic’ in the Press

Two fantastic articles by York Press who have reported on Herstory.York as an epic and  unique project which has documented the lives of 100  women who have helped ‘shape the York we know today’  

Walking Trail – now available

Herstory.York are working with The Good Organisation to develop a free walking trail in York based on some of our 100 women. We hope to launch this on International Women’s Day 8 March 2022. Update: walking trail launched! And see this great article from York Mix

Norah Gurney, Archivist

Norah Kathleen May Gurney, nee Dewar (1921 – 1974) was the second Director of the Borthwick Institute for Archives in York..   She was born in 1921 in London, the daughter of Frank J. Dewar and Mabel M. Mulholland. After graduating in modern history at St Hugh’s College, Oxford, she worked for naval intelligence during the Second World War. […]

Mary Sessions and Margaret Sessions – Printers, Editor and Author

Mary Sessions (1841 – 1926) was married to William Sessions who died at the age of just 43 in 1886.  By then he had established himself in a printing business in York which he had bought in 1865.   When he died, Mary led the business until their son was of an age to take the helm.  This involved a transformative move to larger premises to accommodate bigger (and […]