Periodicals by, for, and about women in Britain

Abstract

Periodicals in general are an underrated resource for researchers, and this is especially true of women's periodicals. For present purposes these can be divided into three categories: commercial, organisational, and feminist. Commercial women's magazines first emerged at the turn of the eighteenth century, and have been increasingly concerned with the domestication of women and with fashionable dress. They have come to be almost entirely controlled by advertising interests. Organisational periodicals frequently demonstrate a tension between the organisation and the women within it, which tends to be resolved to the women's disadvantage. Feminist periodicals first began to appear in the mid-nineteenth century, since when they have undergone various vicissitudes, but at present they appear to be flourishing as never before. The Fawcett Library has been stocking as many women's periodicals as it can, but runs into difficulties of space and categories. Although satisfactory lists of women's periodicals have been appearing, the important task of article-indexing has scarcely begun.