Women's Publications
for Lesbian/Feminists

This section of this site will feature downloadable and searchable PDF files of selected early women's publications, mostly from Houston, but including some statewide ones. This is by no means all of the ones that existed, just the ones to which I had access, and all are rare and interesting. I would very much like to expand this section, so If you can provide other issues of these and similar publications for scanning purposes, please contact me. I am displaying these in roughly year order. Access to most of the copies of Pointblank Times is courtesy of Pokey Anderson. A listing of some early Houston GLBT publications (a work in progress) can be found at this link.

What publications is this section for? As this is an LGBT history website, that becomes grey when it comes to women's issues, and I have leaned more to the "lesbian/feminist" side, when I can find them. Over the years there no doubt have been many more, for example, where does Breakthrough (of the 1970's) fit? And, I have no publications yet from the 1990's, surely there were some. Let me know if you have some I can borrow/scan.

 Additions are added often, so please check back

Pointblank Times, 1975 - 1978

Pointblank Times

Monthly Lesbian/Feminist publication
(8 1/2" x 11") with a
large staff, including activist
Pokey Anderson.

 

existed at least to
May 1978

Volume 1-1, 3/75, PDF

Volume 1-2, 4/75, PDF

Volume 1-3, 5/75, PDF

Volume 1-4, 6/75, PDF

Volume 1-5, 8/75, PDF

Volume 1-6, 9/75, PDF

Volume 1-7, 10/75, PDF

Volume 1-8, 11/75, PDF

Volume 1-9, 12/75, PDF

Volume 2-1, 1/76, PDF

Volume 2-2, 2/76, PDF

Volume 2-3, 3/76, PDF

Volume 2-4, 5/76, PDF

Volume 2-5, 6/76, PDF

Volume 2-6, 7/76,
U of H Link

Volume 2-7, 12/76, PDF

Volume 3-1, 1/77, PDF

Volume 3-2, 3/77, PDF

Volume 3-3, 5/77, PDF

Volume 3-4, 8/77, PDF

Volume 3-5, 11/77, PDF

Volume 4-1, 1-2/78, PDF

Volume 4-2, 4-5/78, PDF

 


It appears the Pointblanks I may be missing are:


Vol 2-6, July 76, though I am able to link to its
data at the U of H Digital Archive,
as I am similarly for Vol 4-1, Jan-Feb 78
Pointblank Times was having production
difficulties through the last year.

Unknown how many issues existed
between Vol 3-5 and Vol 4-1,
November 77 and January 78, which
could have been one issue, or maybe
none
and if any existed after Vol 4-2
If you can provide missing into on the
publication, please email me

 

At right, a letter to the editor
of the Houston publication
Contact, in an effort to get
the word out.

It's About Time (1978)
Older Women's League - OWL (1988+)
Off the Wall Productions

It's About Time
was the newsletter of the NLFO, National Lesbian Feminist Organization, with the pub based in Houston beginning May/June 1978. Not known how long it lasted.
May/June 1978, PDF

Older Women's League, OWL, Houston chapter...more of a women's group than a lesbian one. I have only seen this Fall 1988 newsletter, PDF


Off the Wall Productions
was a Women's production company founded in Houston in 1977, dedicated to bringing women entertainers to the city in concert.

Margie Adam Program,
early 1978, PDF

Breakthrough, 1976-1980
Choices, 1983-1984
Womansight, 1982

Breakthrough

A Feminist publication with small degree of lesbian content. Ran from Jan 1976 through Dec 1980.

See major section on
Breakthrough

and also
U of H Link

Choices--Personally Yours

Another newsletter for womyn, begun March 1983, and size is 8 1/2" x 11". How long did it last?

September 1983 PDF
Volume 2-1 3/84, PDF
Volume 2-2, 5/84, PDF
See founder Carol Beverage on this cover

Womansight

Dallas-based 11"x14" statewide newspaper, emphasis on rest of state over Houston, and women over lesbians. Produced by a "collective."

Vol. 2-8, 2/82, PDF
Vol. 2-9, 3/82, PDF
Vol. 2-10, 4/82, PDF


Lavender Letters

Vol 1-1, 02/84, PDF
Vol 1-3, 04/84, PDF
Vol 1-4, 05/84, PDF
Vol 1-5, 06/84, PDF
Vol 1-7, 08/84, PDF
Vol 1-9, 10/84, PDF
Vol 1-10, 12/84, PDF

Please help me add more!


Lavender Letters
was very well done, with a goal to be, per its intro, a "feminist lesbian publication which will provide a forum for women, cover the women's community, supply information of special interest to women, to name a few."

Kareena Heath was listed as Publisher/Editor. It was letter size, 12 pages, on stiff paper. Unknown if it lasted past its first year.
WomynSpace & WAND, 1985-1996


WomynSpace & WAND

Called a "Community Calendar/Newsletter," it
was just that, with very
few articles, but apparently quite
thorough in the listings.

Later the name was changed to WAND (Womynspace Activities Networking Directory).

SEE MAJOR SECTION

 

Dimensions, 1987 - 1995
Women's Music Calendar - 1982

Dimensions

Small lesbian publication from Lubbock, with local and national news, 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", ~40 pages, editied by Kelly Chambers and heavy contribution by Houston's Nancy Ford

See Major Section
on Dimensions




July 1994, PDF

June 1995, PDF

July 1995, PDF


Women's Music Calendar - 1982, PDF
Susan Wilson Photography with great notes
Emerald Pillows, 2004

Emerald Pillows

Edited by Maxine Rothman, it called itself
"a monthly lesbian rag for all the lovely ladies of Houston." It was a 5 1/2 x 8" zine, 16 pages, with a mix of articles, horoscopes (by Lilly Roddy), cartoons, etc. Unsure how many issues were done, and it appears it did not survive 2004

#1-3, May 2003, PDF

#2-2, Feb 2004, PDF

#2-4, Apr 2004, PDF

 

Researching with the internet "wayback machine," it appears the zine began in early 2003, with issues in May, August, September and November 2003; and through April 2004, with a gap until October 2004, which may have been the last one

If you can share more issues with me please let me know

 

H.e.r.s., 2004 - 2005

Hers

Published in Houston by Shaunte Angelo and Kristen Kemp, this was a slick and classy pub geared to the Houston lesbian community. Per Shaunte, only six issues published,
all shown here

Vol 1, Feb/Mar 2004, PDF

Vol 1, Apr/May 2004, PDF

Vol 1, Jun/Jul 2004, PDF

Vol 1, Sep/Oct 2004, PDF
Vol 1, Dec/Jan 2005, PDF

Vol 2, Feb/Mar 2005, PDF

 
Miscellaneous (Non-Local)
Atatlanta Newsletter, 1973-early 1990s
Women's Fest, 1991
WomanSpace, 1988-2007

Atatlanta Newsletter

The Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance (ALFA) existed from 1972 through 1994 and published a newsletter starting in 1973 into the early 1990s. The PDF covers three issues from 1988, March, April and July. PDF
Account of its history.


6th National Women's Choral Festival, 1991, PDF

WomanSpace

San Antonio newsletter begun in Feb 86 as Women's Community Journal, and in mid-86 morphing into WomanSpace, and lasting into 2009 per this link where over 200 issues can be found. Last issue March 2007. Published by a Collective of volunteers.

Mar-Apr 86, PDF
Mar-Apr 87, PDF

Vol 10-7, May 98, PDF
Vol 12-7, May 00, PDF

I Know You Know
Impulse
The Ladder

I Know You Know was a slick color monthly magazine, begun in late 1984, out of Indianapolis; unknown how long it ran, apparently until mid-1986, see clipping below

Vol 1-2, Jan 1985, PDF

Vol 2-1, Dec 1985, PDF


Impulse was an El Paso magazine, beginning around 1983, with Belinda Renteria as Publisher & Editor. It lasted at least through 1987

Vol 3-4, Nov 1986, PDF


The Ladder
THE lesbian magazine, running 1956 to 1972

at THIS LINK

Lesbian Tide
On Our Backs 1984 to 2007

 

Bonus, sort of.....I much admire the
1970s publication Lesbian Tide, and
while it is not Texas-oriented at all,
I wanted to share the copies I have
in my own archives, so they would
be available to those researching
lesbian history.

Lesbian Tide

 

On Our Backs

A national pub started by Susie Bright in 1984, in San Francisco. And it ran until March 2007. Quite erotic. They were online but now have been taken down. See Wiki.

I have one, as an example, here

Vol 14-3-9906-07, PDF

Curve / Deneuve 1991 to 2019
 

Curve began in 1991 as Deneuve, a very slick and excellent lesbian magazine. In January 1995 the name was changed to Curve, due to lawsuits, and it ran until 2017. See the Wiki details.
In 2018 for two years it rebranded as Curve Living True in a streamed down version.


Founded by Frances "Franco" Stevens in San Francisco, it was The class act for its genre. It was owned for a while by an Aussie company, but bought back in 2021.
The entire archive can be browsed at this site.

See Vol 7-4, Sep 97, PDF

 Additions are added often, so please check back