''The New Women's Survival Catalog'' is a 1973 book, the collective outcome of an influential survey of

second-wave feminist Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains. W ...

network activities across the United States. It was assembled in five months by Kirsten Grimstad and Susan Rennie. The book was promoted as a "feminist ''

Whole Earth Catalog The ''Whole Earth Catalog'' (WEC) was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays and articl ...

''", referring to

Stewart Brand Stewart Brand (born December 14, 1938) is an American writer, best known as editor of the ''Whole Earth Catalog''. He founded a number of organizations, including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. He is the auth ...

's famous 1968–1972 counterculture magazine. The book was reissued by art book publisher Primary Information in September 2019.

Content

The New Woman's Survival Catalog, styled as a typical sales catalog, contains listings, close descriptions, articles, and contact information for feminist organizations and resources in North America. Another section details the publication's research and production process. The publication's content focusses on nine subjects, each marking its own chapter. The book opens with "I Communications", listing, amongst others, feminist presses, radios and publications. "II Art" marks the second subject, summarizing galleries, collectives, theatre and other feminist artistic approaches. "III Self-Health" and "IV Children" follow with information about the body, medical care, single parents and liberating literature examples. The fifth chapter is called "V Learning" summarizing liberation schools, feminist studies and women in history. "VI Self Defense" and "VII Work and Money" mark the next subjects, giving self help advice and contacts on both issues. The last two chapters "VIII Getting Justice" and "IX Building the Movement" state information about discrimination, legal sources, women's rights, women's organizations and centers, and are more focussed on the active fight for women's rights in terms of the second wave feminist movement and politically contextualizing the before mentioned subjects.

Making the book

The ''New Woman's Survival Catalog'' originally started as a

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

bibliography from the

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Women's Center. Kirsten Grimstad was an alumna of Barnard at that time and had the task to put it together. She thought "the bibliography needed to have an activist dimension to it, otherwise it wouldn't be feminist". Together with Susann Rennie, who was at the board of the Women's Center, they conducted a nationwide survey to gather information and sold the concept as "the woman's ''Whole Earth Catalog''" to the publisher, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. During summer 1973 Grimstad and Rennie set out on a two-month roadtrip, covering 12,000 miles across the country, to speak directly with groups and get information on site. On July 13, Grimstad and Rennie returned and began sorting the material. The following August, production of the book began. Fanette Pollack and Ruth Bayard Smith helped the authors with copywriting and page layouts. Mark St. Giles was responsible for the typesetting, which she did on an

IBM Selectric Composer The IBM Selectric typewriter was a highly successful line of electric typewriters introduced by IBM on 31 July 1961. Instead of the "basket" of individual typebars that swung up to strike the ribbon and page in a typical typewriter of the perio ...

. On September 15 the

paste up Paste is a term for any very thick viscous fluid. It may refer to: Science and technology * Adhesive or paste ** Wallpaper paste ** Wheatpaste, A liquid adhesive made from vegetable starch and water * Paste (rheology), a substance that behaves as ...

began with help from Peggy Lyons and Leslie Korda Krims. On October 3 the

camera-ready Camera-ready is a common term used in the commercial printing industry meaning that a document is, from a technical standpoint, ready to "go to press", or be printed. History The term camera-ready was first used in the photo offset printing ...

copy was delivered to print. The whole catalog was put together in five months, two of which Rennie and Grimstad spent on the road. According to the editors reflection in the last section of the book "The book was therefore made under terrific pressure," which is one factor for the catalog appearing with an aesthetic between DIY culture and a commercial sales catalog. Reasons for working so fast were, amongst others, the fast aging character that is implicit to the kind of information that is presented, as well as seasonal commercial timing.

Resulting works and projects

Chrysalis ''Chrysalis: A Magazine of Women's Culture'' was an influential feminist publication. It was collectively produced by artists and writers from the Los Angeles feminist movement and published from 1977 to 1980 by Susan Rennie and Kirsten Grimstad. Continuing the DIY feminist publishing culture, they got together with

Sheila Levrant de Bretteville Sheila Levrant de Bretteville (born 1940) is an American graphic designer, artist and educator whose work reflects her belief in the importance of feminist principles and user participation in graphic design. In 1990 she became the director of th ...

who did the magazins Graphic Design Chrysalis was placed in the

Woman's Building The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles, California. The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic de ...

, a radical arts community that existed in a spacious building near downtown L.A. Throughout the 1970s, self-publication was critical to the success and maintenance of feminist communities. Highlighting itself from other similar publications of the time Like ''Heresies'''','' Chrysalis reached and engaged a broader audience with more progressive issues. With its collaged articles on women's health, movement politics, as well as commissioning new fiction, poetry, and art portfolios, the Chrysalis magazine covered not only art world politics but rather brought up issues that affected the whole women's community. The Chrysalis bureaucracy was based on consensus, editorial decisions were outcome of a collective process. Intended as a quarterly publication, the collective produced only ten issues, before they had to resign in 1980, due to lack of funding.

References

External links

* View full Catalog on

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

* Listen to an Interview Susan Rennie and Kirsten Grimstad by Barbara Cady on

* Read Meg Millers full Article "Behind the Making of the Feminist Whole Earth Catalog" o
AIGA Eye on Design
1973 books Second-wave feminism in the United States Feminist literature {{Authority control