The Amateur feminist library started out as a quest, during the final year of my graphic design studies at the KABK (The Hague, Netherlands), for women in the editorial field — the reference materials offered by the different art schools I attended having be overwhelmingly white and male. I quickly found many of them, and got interested in what researcher Trysh Travis termed « The women in print movement ».

Alongside the women’s liberation movement, a vibrant network of women-led publishing houses, periodicals, newsletters, printers, and libraries grew rapidly at local, national, and transnational levels. This alternative communication circuit allowed women to circulate ideas, share information, and disseminate cultural productions that were excluded from the mainstream. It gave birth to an extremely dense, vast and diverse printed production that unfortunately remains widely understudied.

For my thesis, I gathered stories of the Dutch women in print movement, and for my diploma project, I organized reading sessions, asking others to become amateur feminist librarian with me, and to think about what to do with this material today. The library’s life continued after graduation, during a residency at Page Not Found (The Hague) titled Spreading the word —An endeavour in Feminist Publishing and supported by the Makersregeling Fund of The Hague Municipality. During this time, I expanded my research across the Netherlands and France, continuing to collect and map feminist and lesbian periodicals from that era.

This website is aimed to be a platform to gather, share and visualise informations and resources on the topic. Given the complex and sometimes fragmented history of these publications, the database contains certain gaps and areas of uncertainty. Contributions to correct, collaborate on, and enhance this collection as well as the resources page are warmly welcomed and will be credited. If you’re interested in contributing, please reach out at hello@amateurfeministlibrary.org.