March marks Women’s History Month in the United States, so it’s a good time to explore how and what resources we use to research female ancestors. In this blog post, I’d like to focus on a source that provides some historical context for better understanding our female ancestors – popular magazines.
Researching historical magazines is different from researching a genealogical database. You are not looking for an ancestor’s name in a magazine; instead, you're reading to better understand an era. Popular magazines provide everything from fashion and recipes to advice articles and advertisements—all information that can help us better understand an era. I’ve used magazines to understand women's roles in the World War I era, food during World War II, and what consumer goods were available to my female ancestors.
5 Historical Magazine Collections
Here are five digital magazine collections to help you learn more about your females ancestors in context.
1. Trove – Australian Women’s Weekly 1933-1982
Trove is a digital collection collaborative website hosted by the National Library of Australia. Like other digital collections, it includes magazines and newspapers. Included is the women's magazine, Australian Women’s Weekly (1933-1982). You can search by keyword or browse the collection by date (see link above).
2. University of Vermont Libraries Research Guides – History of Women in the US – Women’s Magazines
The University of Vermont Library Research Guides include links to historical women’s magazines housed on the digitized books website Hathi Trust, making it easier to find what you are interested in and discover new magazines. Titles include the familiar, such as Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, and Godey’s Ladies Book, as well as more obscure titles, such as American Kitchen Magazine.
3. Gale – International Women’s Periodicals. 1786-1933
This Gale PDF provides details about this institutional subscription database. Some academic institutions have access to this subscription, so it’s a matter of looking at the library resources of your local academic library. A list of periodicals included in this subscription can be found in the last pages of the PDF. You could “google” magazine titles of interest to see if they can be found in other places, such as digitized book websites.
4. Internet Archive – Pulp Magazine Archive
Internet Archive has several issues of historical women’s magazines, some of which can be found in the Pulp Magazine Archive collection. These magazines include Delineator, Women’s Home Companion, McCalls, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Home Companion, and the Farmer’s Wife. Searching the entire website will also uncover issues uploaded by libraries and individuals. There is also a collection for American Ladies’ Magazine 1828-1836, a periodical published in the United States.
5. Internet Archive – Canadian Libraries
Internet Archive has a Canadian library collection where you can also find assorted women’s magazines, including the Canadian Home Journal. A women’s magazine collection doesn’t exist, so you’ll need to know the magazine's name to search. There is a Candian Trade Journal collection to browse that includes issues of Canadian Home Journal.
Have You Researched Magazines?
Have you considered researching historical magazines for context for your female ancestor's story? I'd love to hear your recommendations in the comments below.
Happy Women's History Month!
Gena Philibert-Ortega is an author, instructor, and researcher. She blogs at Gena's Genealogy and Food.Family.Ephemera. You can find her presentations on the Legacy Family Tree Webinars website.
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