West Coast Zine Collection: Finding Aid

Introduction | Background | What are Zines | Topic Variety | Zine Incarnations | Examples in Our Collection

Finding Aid | Container List

Introduction - Aims of the Zine Archive

The West Coast Zine Archive's aim is to provide a protected space for Do-it-Yourself collections while advancing public access to these important works. This archive will protect and preserve tangible evidence of these unique literary creations to come. Zines in this collection will not circulate beyond the library, but Archive is open to all patrons of the library.

The archive features zines related to gender and gender issues, music, art, and popular and alternative culture. This Archive focuses on publications West of the Mississippi and South of the U.S.-Mexico Border; but zines from other regions are also accepted and added to the Archive. We are requesting donations of single issues as well as large collections. Donations are tax-deductible and donor names will be credited in the Archive's inventory list. Allow someone 100 years from now to read what life was like for YOU and have your publication live on indefinitely. Have extra zines just collecting dust where few people can enjoy? Send us those too!

Expand access to D.I.Y. publications and promote their preservation!

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Background

While only recently gaining recognition from mainstream popular culture, zines have actually been in circulation for over sixty years. The term comes from fan magazine. Fan magazines were first created in the early 1930's by Science Fiction fans and often published by Sci-Fi club founders. These productions served as a way to share science fiction stories and commentary and to widen communication between fans. Amazing Stories, published by Hugo Gernsback in 1926, was the first creation of its kind. In the 1970's, fan magazines became known as "fanzines" as they were adopted by the growing punk rock music scene in response to its neglect by and criticism of the mainstream music press. The world of fanzines became greatly influenced by the punk scene as alternative music and politics met face to face. Early examples of these fanzines were Punk and the now infamous Sniffin' Glue. By the 1980's, streams of publications by fans of other cultural genres entered the scene, mixing with the writings of discouraged, disgruntled authors and the printed leftovers of 1960's-1970's political dissent. At this time, fan was dropped and zine became the umbrella term for all genres encompassed within this form of alternative press.

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What are Zines?

Zines are informal, personal mini-magazines on virtually any topic, written, published, and distributed by their creators. The incredible breadth of zines make it difficult to classify them but several areas of focus consistently emerge such as the political, personal, network, scene, grrrl/girl, art, fringe culture, sex, religious, health, vocational, travel, and literary zine, as well as comix, and many, many more. Throughout their history, a unique and important publishing network has been developed by the dedication of both zine creators and their readers. A large and complex subculture revolves around the distribution of this literature where "zinesters" have created a self-supported underground rich with resourcefulness, networking, and interaction. While types of zines and their content are as unique as the individuals who create them, all zines present a social, if not political, challenge. Backed by a hardboiled Do-It-Yourself ethic, zines become a form of cultural rebellion where individuals take initiative, community develops, and a movement is born.

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Topic Variety

While various genres of zines have held forum for personal-political subject matter, the 1990's witnessed an explosion of "grrrl" zines onto the scene. Just about every area of an individual's life is represented and examined in the zine world but the exploration of feminism and gender has successfully competed for center stage. The Riot Grrrl movement of the 1990's popularly reclaimed the term "girl," birthing a prolific genre of girl/grrrl zines feminist in nature. Zines seem to be one of the few spaces wherein the representation of feminism, gender, sexuality, and women's issues generally cross race, class, and geographic boundaries, making for very special cultural productions and artifacts. Individuals of all ages publish zines and the production and popularity of these important creations only seems to be exponentially growing with time.

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Zine Incarnations

Over the years, the zine world has expanded its production into several major realms: the traditional cut and paste zine or print zine, the high-production and widely distributed zine also known as the glossy, and the on-line electronic or Internet e-zine. In addition, zinesters not only produce their own publications but also distribute the inventions of other publishers with zine distros. A few examples of girl print zines collected in the SDSU Special Collections Archive include Glue Magazine, El Sueno de Venus, Oya, Hip Mama, and Wive's Tales. Collections such as Bitch Magazine, BUST, Venus, Rockrgrl, Hip Mama, and Fat!So? are popular "glossies" that started small only to develop into high production magazines with the spirit of home-spun zines. Zines such as Bamboo Girl, Worse Than Queer, Action Girl Online, Digital Chicana, and Blackgirl Stories provide not only print versions but also virtual tours inside the minds and hearts of women taking their passion for zines on-line for wider access. Acquiring sometimes hard to find print zines is made easy by distros like Grrrl Style, Pander, Zomblasta, Towanda Distro, and Pisces Catalog and Zine Distro. Because the network has become so expansive, directories for the sole purpose of reviewing, tracking, and archiving zines have surfaced worldwide.

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Examples in Our Collection

Thee Daughters of Houdini Medical Zine: To The Hysteria Faire by Zoey Kroll and Carolyn Cooley (San Francisco, CA. 1996). This imaginative zine blends fantasy with medical history. Fascinating drawings and a wonderfully weird narrative puts this zine into a class all its own.

And Everything Nice by Annie La Ganga (Chico, CA. 1994). "A very nice comic by a very nice girl." This zine reads as a personally and politically reflective journey and a candid testimonial of the complex issues surrounding women's reproductive rights.

Hip Mama by Ariel Gore (Oakland, CA. 1998). This "Parenting Zine" has become an indispensable resource for pregnant women, mothers, and anybody interested in progressive parenting. Complete with socio-political editorials and articles on pregnancy, mothering, healthcare, coping, support, childrearing, and endless other helpful and interesting tidbits, this zine makes its impact as a survival guide for "hip conscious mamas."

1-UP MegaZine by Raina Lee (Los Angeles, CA. 2002). This hand silk-screened zine is a great example of the crafts (wo)manship and dedication involved in the production of these self-published works. As a collection of writings devoted entirely to video games and the people who love them, 1-Up also exemplifies the specialized nature of zines and the endless number of topics covered in the zine world!

Glue Magazine by Claudia Lucero (San Diego, CA 2002). Inspired by the tradition of women's crafting circles, Glue is a collection of creative "how-to's" on everything from knitting, handmade do-dads, yummy recipes, and grassroots organizing. Do-it-yourself projects cultivating "sisterhood down to a craft!"

Queenzine by Raina Lee (Los Angeles, CA. 2002). Another creation by Raina illustrates the high-productivity and fearless genre crossing personified by many zinesters. Queenzine is of the popular "eclectic" variety where anything and everything goes and chosen topics are as diverse as the individuals who cover them

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