Women's history: Journals and magazines
Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine
In print: 1860-1878
Online at 19th century UK Periodicals: 1852-1882
Contained serial fiction, articles, essays, biographical sketches, fashions, domestic recipes, poetry, bills of fare for dinner, biography, domestic history of England, gardening, needlework designs. The first paper to be published for women of the middle classes, and particularly the lower-middle classes, and it was the first British women’s magazine to achieve anything approaching mass sales.
More information on the Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine.
Lady’s Magazine
In print: 1772-1814; 1772; 1775-1776; 1783-1791; 1793-1795; 1800-1814
Claimed to be written by ladies for ladies, and at the price, aimed at the upper classes. Short stories, serialised fiction, poetry, essays extolling feminine virtues, advice to wives and mothers, recipes (both culinary and medicinal), biographies of historical figures, world geography, domestic and foreign news reports, London and Paris fashions, alongside embroidery patterns for homemade garments.
Lady’s Monthly Museum
In print: 1805-1813; 1805-1806; 1810; 1813.
Online at 19th century UK Periodicals: 1800-1830
Aimed at upper class ladies, and featuring essays, anecdotes, reviews, correspondence, historical sketches, biographies, book reviews, fashion, poetry, serial fiction, celebrated British ladies, arts, and theatre. Merged with Lady’s Magazine in 1832.
More information on Lady's Monthly Museum.
Lady’s Pictorial
In print: 1891
The Lady’s Pictorial was a periodical aimed squarely at middle class women, and a rival to The Queen. It regularly printed articles on the enlargement of women’s sphere, particularly in employment. A large number of women were employed on the staff.
Ladies’ Treasury
In print: 1866-1881; 1866-1868; 1876-1881.
Online at 19th century UK Periodicals: 1857-1895
Aimed at filling the time of the leisured classes, it featured literature, languages (French and German), dressmaking, literary notices, household management, cookery, millinery, needlework, Parisian gossip, fashions, tales, narratives, brief biographies, poetry, flower drawing, paper flower making, music and drama, notices of new books, notices to correspondents, inquiries and advertisements.
More information on Ladies' Treasury.
The Queen, the Lady’s Magazine
In print: 1890-1892
Aimed at a wealthy audience, featuring fashion, news and stories and weddings, announcements. Similar format and content to Lady’s Pictorial. Heavily illustrated with full length fashion illustrations, as well as lace patterns, children’s clothing, bonnets, hairstyles, and peoples from around the world.
Welsh women’s journals, 1850-1891
Gymraes (Cardiff). Caerdydd: William Owen, 1850-1851. WG50/Gy
Y Tywysydd a'r Gymraes. Llanelli: Argraffwyd gan D. Rees a J. Williams, 1852-1870. WG50/Ty
Y Frythones: at wasanaeth merched a gwragedd Cymru. Llanelli: D. Williams a'i fab, 1879-1891. WG50/Fr
Microfilm: Women’s journals, 1693-1728
Microfilmed from originals held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Humanities microfilm 49
From the series: Women Advising Women: Advice Books, Manuals and Journals for Women, 1450-1837, Part 1: Early Women’s Journals, c.1700-1832, from the Bodleian Library, Oxford
A summary of contents is provided below; click here for further details.
Reel 1
The Ladies Cabinet Enlarged and Opened: Containing Many Rare Secrets and Rich Ornaments of several kindes and different uses. By the late Right Honourable and Learned Chymist, the Lord Ruthven. 2nd ed., 1693
The Ladies Behaviour. A Dialogue. Written, Originally in Italian, above an hundred and fifty years agoe, 1693
The Ladies Mercury, Vol. 1, Nos 1-4, 28 Feb 1693-17 Mar 1693
A Legacy for the Ladies. Or, Characters of the Women of the Age, by the late ingenious Mr Thomas Brown, 1705
Reel 2
The Female Tatler, by Mrs Crackenthorpe, a Lady that knows everything. Nos 1-115, 8 July 1709-31 Mar 1710, bound for comparative purposes with Tory Tatler Nos 1-16, 1709 and The Tatler, by Isaac Bickerstaffe, Nos 1-330, 1709-1711
The Ladies Journal, Nos 1-22, n.d. – 29 June 1727
The Mirrour, Nos II-V, VII-X, XII, 12 Feb 1719-23 Apr 1719
The Parrot, by Mrs Prattle, No’s 1-4, 25 Sep 1728-16 Oct 1728
Microfilm: Radical and reforming periodicals for and by women, 1872-1927
Microfilmed from originals in the British Library. Humanities microfilm 467
From the series: Social and Political Status of Women in Britain
Reels 1-3: Church League for women's suffrage/Church militant, 1912-1928
Reel 4: Conservative and unionist women's franchise review, 1910-1915
Reel 5: Free church suffrage times/The Coming day, 1913-1920; The Independent suffragette, 1916-1917
Reels 6-7: Shafts, 1892-1899
Reel 7: The Suffragist, 1909; Woman, 1887
Reel 8: Woman: a weekly journal embodying female interests / Social review, 1872
Reel 9: Woman's opinion, 1874
Reels 9-10: Women's franchise, 1907-1911
Reel 11: Women's gazette and weekly news (official organ of the Women's Liberal Federation), 1888- 1889
Reels 12-15: The Woman's signal, 1894-1899
Reel 16: Woman's signal budget, 1894-1895; The Women's tribune, 1906; Women and progress, 1906-1907
Reel 17: The Woman worker, 1926-1927; Women and work, 1874-1876; Women folk, 1909; Women's suffrage, 1907
Digital resources
Members of Cardiff University may access 19th Century Periodicals Online, where the following women's journals may be viewed:
Alexandra Magazine and Woman's Social and Industrial Advocate, May-Aug 1864
…continued as Alexandra Magazine and Englishwoman's Journal 1864-65
Belle Assemblée, or, Bell's court and fashionable magazine addressed particularly to the ladies, 1806-32
…continued as Court Magazine and Belle Assemblée, 1832-36
…continued as Court Magazine and Monthly Critic, Jan-Dec 1837
…continued as Court Magazine and Monthly Critic, and Ladies' Magazine and Museum of the Belles Lettres (United with “the Court Magazine and Monthly Critic”), 1838-48
British Mothers' Magazine 1845-55
…continued as British Mothers' Journal 1856-63
…continued as British Mothers' Family Magazine, 1864
British Women's Temperance Journal, 1883-92
…continued as Wings, 1892-1900
Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, etc., 1852-79
…continued as Illustrated Household Journal and Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, 1880-81
Englishwoman's Review: a journal of woman's work, 1866-69
…continued as Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions, 1870-1900
Journal of the Women's Education Union, 1873-81
Ladies' Cabinet of Fashion, Music and Romance, 1832-70
Ladies' Fashionable Repository, 1809-?
…continued as Raw’s Ladies Fashionable Repository, 1829-34
…continued as Pawsey's Ladies Fashionable Repository, 1837-1900
Ladies' Treasury, The. An illustrated magazine of entertaining literature, 1858-95
Lady's Monthly Museum, The; or, polite repository of amusement and instruction being; an assemblage of whatever can tend to please the fancy interest of the mind or exalt the character of the British Fair, 1800-1816
…continued as Ladies Monthly Museum, &c, 1817-28
…continued as Ladies Museum, &c, 1829-32
Lady's Newspaper & Pictorial Times, 1847-63
Woman at Home; Annie S. Swan's magazine, 1893-1900
Woman's Advocate, 1874
Women and Work; a weekly industrial, educational, and household register for women, 1874-76
Women's Penny Paper, 1888-90
…continued as Women's Herald, 1891-93
…continued as Woman's Signal, 1894-99
Women's Union Journal, The; organ of the Women's Protective and Provident Association, 1876-90
…continued as Quarterly Report and Review, Apr 1891
…continued as Women's Trade Union Review, 1891-1900
World of Fashion and Continental Feuilletons, 1824-51
…continued as Ladies Monthly Magazine, The World of Fashion, 1852-79
…continued as Le Monde Élégant, or the World of Fashion, 1880-91