The Kate Sharpley Library (or KSL) is a library dedicated to anarchist texts and history. Started in 1979 and reorganized in 1991, it currently holds around ten thousand English language volumes, pamphlets and periodicals. The library has texts in English and other languages, near complete collections of several anarchist newspapers, and collections of reports and literature from various anarchist organisations. The library is maintained by donations and money made from sales of pamphlets and other publications.
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The Kate Sharpley Library was named after a Deptford-born World War I anarchist and anti-war activist. She worked in a munitions factory and was active in the shop stewards movement. Her father and brother were killed in action and her boyfriend was listed as missing believed killed (though she suspected he had been shot for mutiny). At the age of 22, when called to receive her family's medals from Queen Mary (wife of George V) she threw the medals back at her Queen, saying "if you like them so much you can have them". The Queen's face was scratched, Kate Sharpley was beaten by police, and imprisoned for a few days, though no charges were brought against her. She married in 1922 and dropped out of anarchist activities until a chance encounter with Albert Meltzer at a train station during an anti-fascist action. This led to her meeting many younger activists and so, when Brixton anarchists came to name the archives they had collected from the movement, her name was chosen in preference to a more famous one.
As well as preserving the physical artifacts of anarchist history, the library also publishes books and pamphlets on anarchism and anarchist history, covering many subjects that would otherwise be forgotten. Its activities are recounted in its regular Bulletin, available online and by mail to its financial supporters.
Authors it has published or re-published include Miguel Garcia, Albert Meltzer, David Nicholl, Abel Paz, Antonio Téllez, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
   | The Kate Sharpley Library homepage - Kate Sharpley Library |
| | An Interview with Three Members of the Kate Sharpley Library - ScienceDirect - Serials Review : An Interview with Three Members of the Kate Sharpley Library |
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