Women's Magazine Archive

Consumer magazines aimed at a female readership are recognized as critical primary sources through which to interpret multiple aspects of 19th and 20th-century history and culture. Archival issues, however, have previously been difficult to locate and navigate.

Women’s Magazine Archive 1 provides access to the complete archives of the foremost titles of this type, including Good Housekeeping and Ladies’ Home Journal, which serve as canonical records of evolving assumptions about gender roles and cultural mores. Other titles here focus on narrower topics but deliver valuable source content for specific research areas. Parents, for example, is of particular relevance for research in the fields of children’s education, psychology, and health, as well as reflecting broader social historical trends.

Women’s Magazine Archive 2 features several of the most prominent, high-circulating, and long-running publications in this area, such as Woman’s Day and Town & Country. Collection 2 also, however, complements the first collection by including some titles focusing on more specific audiences and themes. Cosmopolitan and Seventeen, for example, are oriented towards a younger readership, while black women’s interests are represented by Essence. Women’s International Network News differs in being a more political, activist title, with an international dimension.

Women’s Magazine Archive 3 (Coming Q3 2020!) adds valuable international perspectives with five major UK plus one Canadian lifestyle and fashion titles including the UK editions of premier titles – Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan – among other major brands originating in the UK (Prima, She, Company) and Canada (Flare).

Topics covered these collections include family life, home economics, health, careers, fashion, culture, and many more; this material serves multiple research areas, from gender studies, social history, and the arts, through to education, politics, and marketing/media history.

The magazines are all scanned from cover to cover in high-resolution color, ensuring that the original print artefacts are faithfully reproduced and that valuable non-article items, such as advertisements, are included. Detailed article-level indexing, with document feature flags, enables efficient searching and navigation of this content.

Collection 1 titles:

• Better Homes & Gardens (1922 to 2005)
• Chatelaine (1928 to 2005)
• Good Housekeeping (1885 to 2005)
• Ladies’ Home Journal (1883 to 2005)
• Parents (1926 to 2005)
• Redbook (1903 to 2005)

Collection 2 titles:

• Cosmopolitan (1886 to 2005)
• Essence (1970 to 2005)
• Seventeen (1944 to 2005)
• Town and Country (1846 to 2005)
• Woman’s Day (1937 to 2005)
• Women’s International Network News (1975 to 2003)

Collection 3 titles (Coming Q3 2021!):

• Company(1978 to 2005)
• Cosmopolitan UK Edition (1972 to 2005)
• Flare(1979 to 2005)
• Good Housekeeping UK Edition (1922 to 2005)
• Prima(1986 to 2005)
• She(1955 to 2003)

Most of these titles were published monthly and the length of back file ranges from 29 years to 123 years; each provides a rich seam of material attesting to changing social, historical and cultural trends over a period of many decades.