The History of The Hypatia Trust

Landmark Achievements

The presentation by The Trust, in 1996, of a major collection of books by, or about, women to Special Collections Archive of the Library of The University of Exeter, Devon. Named The Hypatia Collection, it consists of approximately 10,000 volumes. Alasdair Paterson, the recently retired University Librarian, became a member of the Hypatia Trustees. Access to the books is available by application to the Special Collections Librarian, Dr. Jessica Gardner.

The launch in 1997 of the Elizabeth Treffry Cornish Collection, initially some 800 books and unpublished documents, concerning women in the history of Cornwall. Local historian, Andrew Symons, was appointed part-time curator of the Collection, and has completed the initial cataloguing. He was succeeded by Peter Waverly in 2004. The opening of the Personal Papers Archive - a small but growing collection of original documents (letters, papers, etc.), cuttings, and manuscripts accrued to the Trust.

The gift of a rural estate south of Seattle, Washington, in the northwestern United States. This charitable donation by Hypatia's longtime friend and supporter, Elspeth Pope, is called Hypatia-in-the-Woods.

The initiation of a Newsletter (twice a year) with Booknotes (literary reviews of new books). Newsletters are no longer sent by post due to high cost of both production and postal charges. Brief notes are circulated locally (in county) along with invitations to events in Penzance. The Newsletter is now posted on this website.

The receipt in 1997 of The Cheris Kramarae Gift of 1,200 books and journals in the fields of gender, media, speech and communications. Professor Cheris Kramarae had recently retired from her post as a Distinguished Professor at The University of Illinois at Urbana. She is now a Visiting Professor at The University of Oregon.

In July 1999 the Trust received a Millennium Award for information technology courses introducing older people to computers. Another Millennium Award was received in 2000 for the Trust's exhibition From Quill to Mouse (the history of writing and printing).

In 2006 the Heritage Lottery Fund, and other local funders, supported The Land Girls Project, which documented the lives and work of women who were in The Land Army in Cornwall during World War II. The project resulted in the successful publication Digging For Memories, and also a DVD.

We have installed, on an outside wall of the Jamieson Library, a major ceramic work by Martha Allan, Tribute to Hypatia.

The restoration and redevelopment of The Trevelyan Hotel, Chapel Street, Penzance, establishing TheTrevelyan House Study Centre. Partners in this development are The Hypatia Trust, The Humphry Davy Research Group, and The West Cornwall Art Archive. These projects are now also supported through the addition of a groundfloor restaurant, The Lime Tree.

The origination, supervision, and development of The West Cornwall Art Archive. This has been relocated to Trevelyan House, and in 2003 became a separate Registered Charity with its own Board of Trustees.

The initiation of a Publishing Programme with the Hypatia Trust imprint, incorporating Patten Press and Jamieson Library publications. The remaining stock of books published by Patten Press and Jamieson Library have been donated to the Trust. In the past few years, a number of book publishing prizes have been awarded to our new publications.

The further donation in 2007 of two Collections to institutions of higher education. In Cornwall, the Trust has donated 600 books on Cornish literature and feminist theory to the Library on the Tremough Campus of Exeter University's English Department. In June a shipment of some1500 books related to American Studies (Wagner Collection) went to Bonn, Germany, for the University's North American Studies Programme.

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