Access Five Decades of Feminist Thought with The Ms. Magazine Archive
This archive provides unprecedented digital access to every issue of the influential feminist magazine, Ms., from its launch in 1972 to the present. Founded by prominent feminists and activists, including Gloria Steinem, Ms. sought to bring coverage of issues impacting women to a wider audience through newsstands, bookstores, and subscriptions. It was the first national magazine where women could read about and debate the strategies and obstacles to their freedom. The archive allows researchers easily to access more than fifty years of iconic covers, articles, essays, interviews, book reviews, original fiction, and poetry, which document the evolution of feminist thought and social change. Among the subjects extensively covered are reproductive health, rights and justice, violence against women, sexual harassment and assault, Title IX, women in sports, LGBTQ+ rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, and feminist movements globally. The issues are digitized in color, page-image format with article-level metadata and searchable text.
The Ms. Magazine Archive is an essential resource for anyone committed to studying gender issues, social justice, and feminist thought. Its articles and features reflect changing attitudes and trends over the decades, making it an indispensable reference for examining the history, evolution, and impact of feminist thought and practice in the U.S. and around the world.
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Why this archive matters
Historical Significance
Ms. magazine was the first national publication by women, for women, and controlled by women in the United States. Its debut marked a significant moment in the feminist movement, offering a powerful platform for amplifying the voices and analyses of pathbreaking leaders, activists, scholars, journalists, writers and artists. It is a valuable resource for providing historical context for the current feminist moment.
Feminist Archive
The magazine provides a contemporaneous, firsthand account of the feminist movement’s milestones, victories, and ongoing struggles, making it a key resource for understanding the historical shifts in gender politics, feminist thought, and activism.
Advocacy and Awareness
The publication has played a key role in raising awareness about issues, advocating for policy changes, and influencing public discourse in the U.S. and globally. Ms. has not just reported on the news, but often made it – popularizing ideas, sparking laws and judicial changes, inspiring women to enter politics, generating new vocabulary, setting trends, and catalyzing new scholarship. Major issues on which the magazine has had a strong campaigning or advocacy role include the Equal Rights Amendment, the Violence Against Women Act, Title IX, sexual assault on college campuses, abortion clinic violence, female genital mutilation, sweatshops, and gender apartheid in Afghanistan.
Fiction and Poetry
As well as being a vehicle for feminist journalism and advocacy, Ms. has published many original literary works, offering another valuable outlet for the expression of women’s experiences, opinions, and creativity. Leading authors to have contributed creative works include Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, and Toni Morrison.
Features
Digital Backfile
Coverage spanning 1972 to present – over 5 decades of content
Metadata and Searchability
Article-level metadata and searchable text
Document-Type Indexing
Easy retrieval of content such as advertisements, photographs, and illustrations
Full-Color Digitization
Cover-to-cover full-color digitization to maximize the visual content
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