Gloria’s Archives

Welcome to Toledo

Named in honor of Gloria’s hometown, Toledo is a platform and database with search tools that enable access, curation, and storytelling. Gloria’s Foundation has digitized over 19,000 items and ensured the safe physical preservation of over 8,000 items.

In total, over 30,000 items have been cataloged to date.

Why archives?

Too often, the histories we are told—in books, media, public monuments—do not adequately include women’s contributions. Our knowledge is limited, and our imaginations for future possibilities are not nearly as expansive as they could be.

Gloria’s Foundation has been digitizing, preserving, and cataloging precious archival materials. The result is a feminist archive that stretches from Native American women who inspired arriving European women to the stories of many activists of recent movements whose work has not been given a national spotlight. The collection emphasizes feminism and collaboration, much like Gloria herself. It documents Gloria’s life and the work she has been a part of, and also contextualizes social justice and women’s history broadly.

Our long-term goal is to offer a free, digitally-accessible archive with a truly inclusive historical lens, one that is useful to every type of researcher—from the curious person to the rigorous academic scholar. A portion of Gloria’s archives are now housed at Smith College, a collection with whom we collaborate. The Foundation’s archives will more democratically spread the knowledge of social justice history.

By uplifting the stories of many overlooked changemakers who have worked tirelessly alongside Gloria, Gloria’s Foundation fosters inclusive historical recordkeeping, and so contributes to a more equitable future.

More information about Toledo will be available soon.