In Spring 2021, I’ll be teaching my Graphic Archives graduate seminar in the Department of English at the University of Florida where we research the visual culture of American progressive grassroots media (1960s-1990s), focusing in on feminist and LGBTQ periodicals. We will examining cover graphics, comics, drawings, photographs, advertisements, typography, layout, and other elements of the periodicals’ visual aesthetics.
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be researching through open-access digital archives, surveying what materials have been digitized and how we can ethically approach such materials. Be in touch with any relevant open-access resources not listed here; I’ll credit you for any that I add to this guide.
Thanks to Jolie Braun, Justin Wigard, UF Latin American and Caribbean Collection, Colleen Theisen, Chris Caldwell, Cher Tan, and Betty M. Bayer for some fantastic suggestions that I’ve added below!
Specific grassroots periodicals that have been digitized:
- Bay Area Reporter, SF LGBTQ periodical 1971-present, https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=cl&cl=CL1&sp=BAR&e=——-en–20–1–txt-txIN——–1
- BOMB Magazine, cross disciplinary NYC artists mag, 1981-present, http://bombmagazine.org/about/
- Chicago Defender, long-standing black newspaper, founded in 1905, https://www.chicagodefenderarchives.org/
- Cultural Correspondence, New Left review out of Providence that published 1975-1985, http://library.brown.edu/cds/cultural_correspondence/
- Dyke, A Quarterly, ran for five issues, 1975-1979, http://seesaw.typepad.com/dykeaquarterly/
- The Empty Closet, Upstate NY LGBT periodical, 1971 to present, https://digitalcollections.lib.rochester.edu/ur/empty-closet
- Gidra, 1969-2001, connected to Asian American movement, available online through Densho Digital Repository, which collects materials that touch upon “the forced removal and detention of more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese ethnicity during WWII,” https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-297/
- HeartattaCk, punk zine, 1994-2006, http://heartattackarchive.com/
- Heresies, feminist art journal, 1977-1993, http://heresiesfilmproject.org/archive/
- HotWire, journal of women’s music and culture, mid 1980s-mid 1990s, http://www.hotwirejournal.com
- Lesbian Tide, Los Angeles lesbian publication, 1971-1980, http://www.houstonlgbthistory.org/lesbian-tide.html
- Lesbian Herstory Archives newsletter, newsletter of the Lesbian Herstory Archives, from 1975 onward, https://lesbianherstoryarchives.org/collections/newsletters/
- Liberation News Service, New Left, anti-war underground press news service, 1967-1981, https://archive.org/details/liberationnewsservice
- Outweek, LGBT NYC weekly, 1989-1991, http://www.outweek.net/archive.html
- Punk Planet, Chicago-based punk zine, 1994-2007, a bunch of issues viewable on archive.org, https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22punk+planet%22
- Radical Faerie Digest, 1974-present, https://www.rfdmag.org/back-issues.php
- Sinister Wisdom, multicultural lesbian literary & art journal, 1976 to present, http://sinisterwisdom.org/archive
- Unicorn Times, DC area arts newspaper (1973-1985), https://digdc.dclibrary.org/islandora/object/dcplislandora%3A117866
- The Washington Blade, oldest LGBT newspaper in the US (since 1969), based out of DC, http://www.washingtonblade.com/archives/
- Washington Free Press, DC underground newspaper, 1967-1969, https://digdc.dclibrary.org/islandora/object/dcplislandora%3A117868
Larger collections of grassroots periodicals:
- Chicana Por Mi Raza, “Chicanx and Latinx histories of the long Civil Rights Era,” http://chicanapormiraza.org/
- Civil Rights Digital Library, http://crdl.usg.edu/
- Digital Transgender Archive, https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/
- DC Punk Archive Zine Library, https://digdc.dclibrary.org/islandora/object/dcplislandora%3A38043
- The Freedom Archives, “progressive history of the Bay Area, the United States, and international movements for liberation and social justice,” http://freedomarchives.org/
- From a Secret Location, “poetry, little mags, small presses, and transient documents from the mimeo era and beyond,” https://fromasecretlocation.com/
- Archives of Gay Freedom Movement (Jamaica) and Rainbow Alliance of the Bahamas along with 81 issues of the Jamaica Gaily News, https://dloc.com/ICIRN
- Graphic Narratives Network & Collection, project based at MSU where scholars are working with and digitizing some of their comics collection, http://graphicnarrativesnetwork.org/ & https://d.lib.msu.edu/gnn
- Houston LGBT History Publications, mostly Texas publications but also others like Lesbian Tide (Los Angeles), http://www.houstonlgbthistory.org/index-pubs.html
- Independent Voices, “open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals,” https://voices.revealdigital.org/
- Lesbian Poetry Archive, http://www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org/periodicals
- POC Zine Project, https://poczineproject.tumblr.com/
- Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP), https://archive.qzap.org/
- Rise Up! A Digital Archive of Feminist Activism, Canadian-focused, https://riseupfeministarchive.ca/
- Roz Payne Sixties Archive, https://rozsixties.unl.edu/
- Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project, http://lgbthistory.pages.roanoke.edu/physical-archives/
- UC Berkeley, digitized periodicals largely from the Bay Area, https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/sfbagals/
Additional digital projects of/about grassroots media:
- Asian American Little Magazines, 1968-1974, https://scalar.lehigh.edu/asian-american-little-magazines/index
- Bay Area Reporter Online Searchable Obituary Database, http://obit.glbthistory.org/olo/index.jsp
- GLBT Historical Society Digital Collections, https://www.glbthistory.org/digital-collections
- June Mazer Lesbian Archives, digital collections at the bottom of this page, https://www.mazerlesbianarchives.org/collections
- Lesbian Herstory Archives, digital resources, https://lesbianherstoryarchives.org/digital-resources/
- The Panther and the Lash: Black Literary Movement Publications and the Black Aesthetic, http://www.whitfrazier.com/pantherproject.html
- Power to the Printers: The Alternative Press In Iowa City, 1965-1985 exhibit, https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/gallery/exhibit/power-to-the-printers-the-alternative-press-in-iowa-city-1965-1985/
- Uptight and Laid-back: Iowa City in the 1960s exhibit, http://dsps.lib.uiowa.edu/sixties/
- Wearing Gay History, Historical LGBT T-Shirts, http://www.wearinggayhistory.com/
