History
Facilities
Library
Collections
Hypatia People
Projects
Latest Newsletter
Upcoming Events
Recent Events
Sponsors
Links
How you can help
Membership Form
e-mail

The Hypatia Trust has been created to collect, and make available, published and personal documentation about the achievements of women in every aspect of their lives.

Central to the Trust's activities is the care and development of the Hypatia Collection, a unique collection of books, artefacts, and archives, by and about women.

The Aims of the Trust

• To maintain, develop and protect in perpetuity the Hypatia Library, which focuses on the literary, artistic and scientific works of women and their contributions to society and culture.

• To further the contribution of women, through civic and community activity, to their societies both nationally and internationally.

• To provide the means and facilities through which women can enhance their cultural and academic achievements.

The principle of the Hypatia Trust is taken from the salutary words of the American historian, Mary Ritter Beard, "No documents, no history".

The Hypatia Trust, a registered educational charity (UK), is committed to a range of partnership, leadership and documentation activities related to women and their (often overlooked) achievements in contemporary public and private life, and in history. Its primary focus is on the documentation of women's lives through the collection of literary, scientific and artistic records, the exhibition of women's arts and crafts, and the publication of related texts.

Our subject is Woman and Women, but our objectives are egalitarian, non-sectarian, non-denominational and without gender preference in membership and project work.

Our concerns are community-based, environmental and regenerational. We spring from a rural background, and the objective is to link to projects in rural and isolated communities, where women may have few opportunities for more widespread communication and connection, and who may want our support for recognition, opportunity and confidence.

Who was Hypatia?

Hypatia was born in Alexandria around 355 AD, her early learning concentrating on mathematics and astronomy. She edited and annotated works by such authors as Diophantus and Ptolemy and is credited with some early advances concerning the projection of the sphere and making scientific instruments.

Her circle of colleagues and followers formed a community based on neo-Platonic systems of thought and intellectual ties. Through private teaching and public lectures, her fame was such that she became the natural advisor on current issues far and wide.

Hypatia was regarded as a model of ethical courage, righteousness, veracity, civic devotion and intellectual prowess. Over time her moral authority and political influence as well as her friendly alliance with the Prefect of Alexandria, Orestes, made her a threat to the Christian patriarch Cyril. Within the larger political upheavals of 415AD, she was assassinated.