Strangers and friends: Report on Women and Brainpower Conference at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London, 4-6 July 1999

This article is a report of the Conference held to celebrate the opening of the new Bedford Centre for the History of Women which holds the archives o f the first steps on the road towards higher education for women in Britain . 1999 marked the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Ladies' College a t 47 Bedford Square, London, founded by Elizabeth Jesser Reid. In 1982 a pa rtnership agreement was signed between Bedford College and Royal Holloway C ollege, following severe cuts in government spending on higher education. O verall the Conference considered what the cultivation of women's brainpower had contributed to the wealth and well-being of the nation. It also raised the problematic question of the future of women's history, if it becomes s ubsumed under the banner of 'gender history,' what might be the gains and w hat might be the losses for women?