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This paper will explore the place of women's experiences within the collections held by the recently redeveloped R&A World Golf Museum in St Andrews [The R&A World Golf Museum is aligned with The R&A, golf's governing body (outwith USA and Mexico)]. It will explore how women have been traditionally represented in the galleries and in academic research, highlighting the gaps that existed in our understanding of women's experiences at a grassroots level within clubs in Scotland. The paper will discuss how the new museum galleries have started to address some of these absences and how they will be further addressed through an AHRC Collaborative PhD Studentship undertaken by Lauren Beatty. It will discuss in brief how and why oral histories have formed the main methodology for this study, and what the longer-term plans are for the use of these testimonies within the Museum in relation to education and outreach work. In doing so, the paper will demonstrate the value of combining both academic research and museum public engagement work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of sports-specific clothing during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has been explored by academics, yet with only a few exceptions which focus on sports such as swimming, riding and tennis, little has been written about the development of sportswear for women in Britain in this period. Similarly, there has been little in the way of consideration given to the growth and development of women's golf during this time. Yet, both are areas of considerable change and worthy of detailed study. In this article we will trace the developments of golf clothing for women from the early days of the formalized game in the late nineteenth century until the end of the inter-war period. In doing so we seek to highlight that golf fashions, like those in other sporting arenas, mirrored the changing expectations of female players whilst also reflecting the societal expectations of women of the period. We will discuss the everyday clothing worn by the pioneers of the game and the modifications they made to their garments in order allow them to play effectively. We will also explore the growth of specialist sports clothing developed specifically for golf and the ways in which these sports clothes were marketed and ultimately became fashionable modes of attire beyond the golf course by the end of the inter-war period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will examine the development of women's increasing participation in sport and its impact on the subsequent emergence of sportswear for women in inter-war Britain. It will explore the public discourses which surrounded these women and their clothes in order to point up the complex nature of the problems women faced when making decisions about what to wear for sports activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]