Power to the People: Counterculture, Social Movements, and the Alternative Press, Nineteenth to Twenty-First Century

Abstract

Power to the People: Counterculture, Social Movements, and the Alternative Press, Nineteenth to Twenty-First Century is a Gale database (released in 2023) that documents four distinct primary source collections and three alterative press publications, encompassing ∼600,000 pages of material. It is an aptly named database, covering how counterculture activists/organizations and alternative presses shaped the formation of various social movements in the modern United States and United Kingdom. A broad range of ideas and initiatives can be found within the database, spanning topics such as gender equality, civil rights, antiwar efforts, labor movements, and environmental justice. It is also important to note that the primary source contributors represent diverse voices, from artists to satirists to grassroots organizers. Highlighting those voices may be aligned with broader decolonizing collections efforts underway at some institutions.The four highlighted collections and three alternative press titles include: <list list-type="simple"> <list-item> The Pacific Coast Counterculture Collection (Robert P.J. Cooney, Jr.)</list-item> <list-item> Special Collections on Peace, Politics, and Social Change, Commonweal Library, University of Bradford</list-item> <list-item> Left-wing politics and radical political movement pamphlets, Ron Heisler Collection housed, University of London</list-item> <list-item> The Liberal Students of the 1960s Collection, University of Michigan</list-item> <list-item> Fortean Times (1976‐2020)</list-item> <list-item> Bizarre (1997‐2015)</list-item> <list-item> Viz (1979‐2020)</list-item> </list>The above grants community members, students, and faculty access to primary source materials that are contextually related yet geographically isolated from each other. Given Gale’s relatively large primary source suite of databases, this product complements the overall efforts Gale has made in curating distinct databases that cover relatively focused topics. Being able to cross-search across Gale’s primary source collections through a unified platform adds value to this product, depending on preexisting Gale primary source holdings.