Women In Print Movement : Archival Resources

The GLBT History Society holds collections of interest to WIP presses and bookstores. The Women’s Press/Up Press records, 1972-1987 detail the history of the Women’s Press and Up Press, a major WIP feminist press established in 1974 to teach women printing trade skills. The collection includes school files, printing job documents, correspondence, manuscripts, publications and other printed material, and photographs. The Society also holds the Old Wives’ Tales Bookstore records, 1976-1995. This collection details the history of the San Francisco-based bookstore and chiefly includes administrative documents, printed materials, and photographs.

The James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center at the San Francisco Public Library holds the Feminist Bookstore News records, 1969-2000. The Feminist Bookstore News (FBN) was a trade publication for feminist bookstores, throughout the United States and transnationally, created by and for members of WIP. The collection includes correspondence, information and issue folders, publications, clippings, promotional materials, financial records, and audiovisual material.

The Lesbian Poetry Archive (LPA) is a digital collection documenting the lives and work of lesbian poets in the U.S. and internationally. The collection is comprised of digitized materials on lesbian literature, authors, poets and poetry, journals, and publishers. Collections include ebooks, exhibits, ephemera, and bibliographies of lesbian literature, poets, authors, periodicals, and publishers. The LPA has digitized two important WIP periodicals: Conditions (1976-1990) and Sinister Wisdom (collection includes editions from 1976-1990).

The Mazer Lesbian Archives (MLA) in Hollywood, California chiefly physical archives of lesbians and feminists. Materials include art, correspondence, scrapbooks, manuscripts, photographs, videos, publications, and ephemera. The collection also includes more than 2,300 titles of lesbian fiction and non-fiction. Digitized materials include the Mazer’s lesbian t-shirt and button collections. WIP individuals and organizations are represented throughout MLA collections.

The Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections at Michigan State University holds the collection of lesbian publications, 1970-2006. This collection includes numerous publications central to WIP in addition to the Lesbian Connection archive. Founded in 1974 in Michigan, Lesbian Connection documented lesbian life and served as a central hub for lesbian socialization throughout the country.

The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University holds physical and digital collections related to women’s history and culture. Numerous collections detail the history of WIP and lives of its prominent figures, including: the Sallie Bingham papers, the Dorothy Allison papers, the Phyllis Chesler papers, and the Robin Morgan papers. Also included is the Women’s and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Movements (LGBT) periodicals collection, 1957-2017 as well as the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance Periodicals collection, 1962-1994, which includes Azalea: A Magazine by Third World Lesbians and the Denver-based feminist publication Big Mama Rag.

The Schlesinger Library at Harvard University is the leading repository for American women’s history. Of particular importance are their Records of the Persephone Press, 1975-1984. This collection details the life of the Persephone Press, a lesbian-feminist collective founded in 1976 in Watertown, Massachusetts. The press was famous for printing seminal texts in WIP, including The Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, edited by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua (1981), and Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982). Materials include correspondence, legal material, interviews, administrative material, event documents, and papers from conferences. Also of interest are the Records of New Words, 1974-2003. New Words was a women’s bookstore active from 1974-2002 in Somerville, MA and served as a central space for WIP materials and culture. Physical and digital collection materials include administrative files, audiovisual material, correspondence, financial records, events files, promotional material, photographs, and memorabilia.

UCLA Special Collections holds the Diana Press records, 1970-1994. This collection details the history of the Diana Press, a lesbian-feminist printing and publishing house established in 1972 in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1977 the press relocated to Oakland, California. The press published famous works by Rita Mae Brown amongst other prominent WIP writers. Materials include administrative items, author files, manuscripts, press materials, and correspondence.

The University of Minnesota Archives holds the Amazon Bookstore Cooperative Corporate records, 1970-2012. Collection details the history of Amazon Feminist Bookstore, the first feminist bookstore in the United States founded in 1970 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Collection materials include administrative material, publications, ephemera, legal material, correspondence, amongst others.

The Women's Literary Salons Archive, 1975-1985 is a collection of digitized material from the Women’s Salon for Literature in New York. Collection material includes the Salon documents, newsletters, photographs, and ephemera curated by Professor Gloria Orenstein, Gender Studies and Comparative Literature, University of Southern California.