shelving with books as staff member walks by

Unsung women heroes of motoring history - highlights from our research library

21 March 2025

Women are often the unsung heroes of motoring history. To celebrate Woman’s History Month, we’ve pulled out a few book highlights from our research library. With an ever-growing Library collection, one of our priorities is to expand our catalogue of titles relating to women’s involvement in motoring and transport.

Berta Benz and the Motorwagen

Published in 1989, Berta Benz and the Motorwagen is a beautifully illustrated book for children is written by Mindy Bingham and tells the historically accurate story of how in August 1888, Berta Benz and her two teenage sons took the gasoline-powered three wheeled motor carriage her husband Karl had invented (but failed to market) and drove 60 miles cross-country without his knowledge.

Berta’s adventure changed the course of motoring history, showing a sceptical public how practical the motorwagen could be. This children’s book details the challenges Berta overcame (at one point she even had to replace a broken spring cable with a garter belt) and has been inspiring young girls for generations.

The Woman & The Car

The Woman and the Car: A Chatty Little Handbook for all Women Who Motor or Who Want to Motor, first published in 1909. Author Dorothy Levitt was the first women to break into motor racing and, following the success of a series of articles, she wrote this manual to inform and give confidence to women on how to drive and maintain a car. Much of Levitt’s advice is still as relevant today - writing of a handheld mirror she said: “you will find it useful to have it handy – not for strictly personal use, but to occasionally hold up to see what’s behind you. Sometimes you will wonder if there’s a car behind you… you can, with the mirror, see in a flash what is in the rear without losing your forward way, and without releasing your right-hand grip of the steering wheel.” This recommendation presents a concept which would of course later evolve into the rear-view mirror, now a staple in all vehicles. In the next paragraph Levitt goes on to advise that “if you are going to drive alone on the high-ways and byways it might be advisable to carry a small revolver. I have an automatic “Colt”, and find it very easy to handle”. This remark offers an interesting insight into how some women may have still felt vulnerable whist enjoying the newfound freedom of a motor car.

Damsels in Design: Women Pioneers in the Automotive Industry, 1939 – 1959

A more recent acquisition for the Library is Damsels in Design: Women Pioneers in the Automotive Industry, 1939 – 1959, by Constance A. Smith, 2018. In the 1950s, American car makers General Motors brought in a team of all female designers to work on car interiors. These ladies were given the slightly questionable moniker Damsels in Design by the press. The concept was, to some extent, a marketing ploy born from the idea that “men buy transportation and engineering and women purchase styling and colour”, yet this book details how (alongside creating skilled designs such as decorative trunk liners with matching luggage sets) these highly educated women went on to patent many safety features we routinely use today. For example, the profile on Suzanne Vanderbilt shows how she filed a patent for the inflatable back support and in around 1961, after reviewing crash statistics, came up with ideas for both the child-safety latch and a child seat specifically designed for crash protection.

All these books highlight how women are often the unsung heroes of motoring history, and showcase just a small selection of the female content we have in the collection. Other notable examples include female biographies, female motor historians and rare examples of cars designed both by and for women.