In campus libraries (especially the Historical Library and Memorial Library), there are books, magazines, and pamphlets from the U.S. women's movement. Below are examples of each type of material, plus search strategies for finding a great deal more.
The New woman's survival catalog. [Editors: Kirsten Grimstad and Susan
Rennie] New York, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan [1973]. 223 p. illus. 37 cm.
Historical Society Library Oversize Stacks HQ1426 N48 1973.
The New woman's survival sourcebook / [editors, Kirsten Grimstad and
Susan Rennie]. New York : Knopf, 1975. 245 p. : ill. ; 31 cm. College Library
Women's Collection, 3rd Fl. East, Rm 3250 HQ1426 N49 and Memorial Library Stacks
Oversize Shelving HQ1426 N49
To find more illustrated books, use some advanced features of Madcat as follows:
In the Madcat Basic search screen, click on "Set More Limits" and set a date
range (1967-1979, or some part of that range). Put the first year in the first
date box and the second in the second box and select the last button. Limit
to English-language. Limit type to "books." Click on "set limits" for the limits
to take effect.
Set up a search statement that combines official subject heading words "women" and "feminis?" [the "?" will pick up both feminism and feminist] with the keyword element that indicates there is some form of illustration in the work "ill?". Select "keyword" as the type of search. Using "skey" below limits that part of the search statement to words found in the subject line:
(skey women or skey feminis?) and ill?
To bring down the number of hits to browse, you might want to add a third element - a series of words that are likely to be found in early movement guides (catalog or guide or handbook):
(skey women or skey feminis?) and ill? and (catalog or guide or handbook)
Among the early women's liberation periodicals with at least something illustrated, and the dates for which there are issues available on campus, are
Amazon Quarterly: a Lesbian Feminist Arts Journal (1973-74)
Country Women (1973-74), San Francisco
CWLU News : Newsletter of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union (1970-?)
Dandelion (1972-80), Philadelphia
Distaff (1974-75), New Orleans
Echo of Sappho (1972-1973), Brooklyn
Her-self (1972-77), Ann Arbor
It Ain't Me Babe (1970-71), Berkeley
A Journal of Female Liberation (1968-71), Cambridge, MA
Lilith (1968-70), Seattle
Maine Freewoman's Herald (1975-78), Portland
Majority Report (1971-77), New York
Marin Women's News Journal (1973-75), San Rafael, CA
The Mother Jones Gazette (1973?), Knoxville
Minority Report (1969-70), Dayton
Ms (1972- ), New York
Search Madcat by title to find their locations. Many were published on newsprint and have had to be microfilmed to preserve them. In those cases, the Madcat location will indicate either the Historical Library's Microform Room, or the Memorial Library Microforms Media Center (443 Memorial). Both have reader-printers, if you want to print out a page from the microform. Be sure to make note of the fiche or reel numbers for the years you want to see.
To find additional periodicals, use a similar approach to that for books, but in the "limits," put in "serials" as type. I suggest a smaller date range (such as 1967-1974), English language, and type "serials." Click on "set more limits" to activate the limits. Try the search
(skey women or skey feminis?) and ill?
If you know the name of organizations from the time period, do an author search for the organization. Newsletters and other individual publications may turn up. In addition, the Historical Library often groups pamphlets and other miscellaneous publications from organizations using the name of the organization as the author and "[miscellaneous publications]" as the title. There may be graphical material among the items. Here are some examples:
Fifth Estate (Washington, DC, 197- ). Historical Society Library Pamphlet Collection 78- 757
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (numerous pubs.)
Women's Transit Authority (Madison, WI) Historical Society Library Pamphlet
87- 1976; also newsletter
Calendars often reproduce posters and other graphics. Try a keyword search "women" and "calendar" in Madcat.
Wisconsin Historical Images of the Wisconsin Historical Society contains many images from Wisconsin and elsewhere in the U.S. The Historical Society holds many original posters and other graphical items. See the "Photographs and Other Visual Materials" description on http://wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/collections/. Visit the Archives Research Room, room 416 in the Historical Society building, to examine the material. Hours: Monday-Friday 8-5 and Saturday 9-4. The reference librarian in the Research Room, Harry Miller, will have some examples out for examination. The Visual Materials Collections and other archival matter are catalogued in a separate catalog from Madcat, called ArCat. The most fruitful searches are by names of organizations. An example is the Wisconsin Women's Network.
The Historical Society also has collections of individual activists' personal papers. Among the papers there may be handbills, letterheads, and other items likely to offer graphics. Some of the individuals whose papers might be worth checking are
Anne Farrar (San Francisco)There is also a Social Action Vertical File with parts relating to "women's rights" in the 1970s.
Schlesinger Library Vertical File for Women's Studies (1950-1990) is a massive microform set of clippings and other material collected by the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe College. It is in Memorial Library Microforms Media Center Room 443 Micro Fiche 5357. The set has three parts: Biographies, Organizations, and Subjects. There is an Index to the set shelved in the Microforms Media Center using the same number (5357), which lists the files alphabetically. No further information is provided in the Index, but it is quite likely that many of the files contain illustrated material from the 1970s.
Return to Women's Studies Librarian's Office Homepage
Email wiswsl at (replace with "@") library.wisc.edu
Created Feb. 4, 2001; mounted December 13, 2002. Updated December 16, 2003.