Women's Magazine Archive (Collection I) External This link opens in a new window
Consumer magazines aimed at a female readership are recognized as critical primary sources through which to interpret multiple aspects of 19th- to 21th-century history and culture. Womens Magazine Archive (Collection I) provides access to the complete archives of the foremost titles of this type, including Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day, 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 childrens education, psychology, and health, as well as reflecting broader social historical trends. Elsewhere, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and Essence disclose trends in and responses to the changing roles and experiences of teenage, young adult, and African-American women respectively. In combination, the publications here cover topics such as consumer culture, economics/marketing, family life, home economics, health and fitness, careers, fashion, popular culture, home/interior design 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.