Memories of the Women of Graubünden
by
11 July, 2024
Frauenkulturarchiv Graubünden is a place of refuge for us women, said Edith Freitag, a long-standing member of the association.
A testimony to the cultural life of women in Graubünden
Frauenkulturarchiv Graubünden – the Graubünden, or Grisons, Women’s Cultural Archive – is located at Goldgasse 10, Chur, Switzerland. It is an independent and non-profit foundation for history, research, and culture founded in 1997 by Silvia Hoffmann-Konrad and Silke Margherita Redolfi.
In addition to a wide range of books and archival material on women and women`s history, Frauenkulturarchiv Graubünden provides advice on questions of women’s studies or helps with research and archiving. A regular hardcopy newsletter, Holtensia, keeps members informed of the events that take place in the archive such as workshops, lectures and other events on contemporary or historical topics covered by the archive. It act as a place for members to meet, study, develop by themselves and share their stories together. For example, there is an oral history programme to encourage women in Grisons to record and pass on their own life stories and the history of their family or organization.
When we look at the development of gender equality in Switzerland today, we take a lot for granted. But we owe every advance to generations of women before us, who had to fight hard for every improvement, no matter how small. For Graubünden, this path is documented in many ways in Frauenkulturarchiv Graubünden…
Sandra Locher Benguerel, National Councillor
The Frauenkulturarchiv Graubünden not only offers a well-organised library and an accessible reading and workshop room, but also collects and makes available to the public documents and materials related to women in the canton. It also conducts research projects on women’s history, creating meaningful material through focussed research questions and comprehensive interpretations of local women’s culture.
Women Writing Architecture has put together this collection as a celebration of the amazingly inspired way in which the Frauenkulturarchiv Graubünden has developed its own path, which could perhaps be a model for many of us. As the Graubünden is one of the most important cultural areas for architecture and landscape in Switzerland, women writing architecture has found a large number of relevant books and texts in its extensive library.