New Databases in Penrose

Two new databases recently added to the Penrose Library collection open up many possibilities for primary source-based research using popular magazines.

The Women’s Magazine Archive contains complete full text for six women’s interest consumer magazines:  Better Homes and Gardens (1925-1961), Chatelaine (1940-2005), Good Housekeeping (1886-1932), Ladies Home Journal (1887-1919), Parents (1949-1972), and Redbook (1903-1999). This full text contains scanned images (in color when available), including advertisements. You can browse an individual magazine or search by keywords for articles and images. Find patriotic paper dolls from 1917, read vintage ads for soap, Lego or Coca Cola, or discover pre-Pinterest decorating tips.

The Popular Magazine Archive provides complete access to Time (1923-2000*), Life (1936-2000), Sports Illustrated (1954-2000*), and the Nation (1865-2000*).  Here too, magazine scans include advertisements. Each issue is completely indexed and can be navigated by a table of contents.

We can imagine using these resources in fields ranging from history and sociology to rhetoric and art history and visual culture, not to mention interdisciplinary areas like race and ethnic studies or gender studies. Have a look!

To access an individual magazine, you can search for it in the Whitman scope in Sherlock. To access the contents of either digital archive, find the archive name through the Database A-Z under the Databases and More menu on the library home page. (You will need to log in using your Whitman network ID and password to use these resources.)

*Articles from 2000 to the present are also available online through databases at Penrose.

Public domain image from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Housekeeping#/media/File:Good_housekeeping_1908_08_a.jpg