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Thousands of titles worldwide -- and a guide to even more

Bachelor August 1937 The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives houses the world's biggest collection of lesbian and gay periodicals -- everything from single-sheet organization newsletters to fat gay glossies; from the latest dyke "zines" to physique mags of the Fifties. Some titles go back even beyond 1937 (but we confess to a special fondness for Bachelor). Compiled by long-time Archives volunteer Alan Miller and available here online, Our Own Voices: A Directory of Lesbian and Gay Periodicals, 1890s to 2000s lists more than 7,200 titles from all over the world, most of them held in the Archives. A full inventory listing of our Lesbian and Gay Periodicals is now online.

Lesbian & Gay Periodicals: Guides

This page is for lists of inventories and other guides to lesbian and gay periodicals, with highlighted titles available online. Only one title is here so far -- but it's a big one.

• Our Own Voices: A Directory of Lesbian and Gay Periodicals, 1890s to 2000s
  Alan V. Miller, c1991 and c1996 (online)
  Updated March 2001
  
  A massive listing of lesbian and gay periodicals, covering the last century and the entire world -- more than 7,200 titles in all. Starred entries (more than 5,900 of them) indicate titles held in the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives.
  This is a very big document -- more than 1.3 MB -- divided into 66 web pages, including an Introduction and a Contents list with links to all pages.

Lesbian & Gay Periodicals: Related Documents

Items below, listed alphabetically by author or published source (in bold), offer more background on lesbian and gay periodicals. Highlighted titles are available online.

• Our Silver Anniversary: Canadians have been organizing for twenty-five years!
  Gay Archivist, Jun 1989 (unsigned)
  
  A look at pioneering gay groups and periodicals, including Vancouver's Association for Social Knowledge (publisher of ASK Newsletter, 1964 - 1968), and the Toronto magazines Gay (1964 - 1965) and Two (1964 - 1966).
  
  
• Spotlighting the Queer Press
  Unspeakable: The Rise of the Gay and Lesbian Press in America
  by Rodger Streitmatter. Faber and Faber, 1995
  Review by Ed Jackson
  Centre/Fold (Toronto Centre for Lesbian and Gay Studies), Spring 1996
  
  Ed examines this "first comprehensive, scholarly look at the role of the lesbian and gay community press" -- and finds that its "understanding of this international phenomenon remains myopically American." Appx 500 words.
  
  
• Beefcake before Blueboy
  Alan V. Miller
  The Body Politic, Jan / Feb 1983
  
  A 1983 review looking at the history of "physique" magazines, from the late 1930s to their eventual demise in the face of mainstream competition. Appx 650 words.
  
  
• The Gay Periodical Press in Eastern Europe
  Alan V. Miller (unsigned)
  Gay Archivist, Nov 1992
  
  A look at the explosion of gay publishing in Russia, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and other post-Communist states after 1989. Appx 750 words.
  
  
• Mission Impossible -- Or Is It?
  Alan V. Miller (unsigned)
  Lesbian and Gay Archivist, Jun 1996
  
  A piece in our online newsletter, on electronic and print resources for gay and lesbian periodicals -- leading to many hard-to-find titles. Notes many Asian, Indian, Japanese, South African, and Latin American titles, as well as some produced by Black and Hispanic communities in the U.S.
  
  
• Canadian Gay Polemical Literature: We've only just begun...
  Tom Warner
  The Body Politic, Mar / Apr 1974
  
  Tom opens with a quote from Laud Humphreys, in Out of the Closets: "Change movements must leap communication barriers that society erects in self-defence. The role of the gay press becomes a central and decisive one in the movement for gay freedom." This 3-page feature charts the early development of gay publishing in Canada -- still sporadic then, but very much part of a movement for gay freedom.