Malana Krongelb zine collection (MS.2017.007)

The Malana Krongelb zine collection consists of 9 linear feet of administrative files and zines that focus on social justice and marginalized identities, dating from 1974 to 2018. Areas of strength include zines by and about people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer peoples, disabled people, interpersonal violence, sex and relationships, sex work, the prison industrial complex, self-care, feminism, and punk.

Series 1, ADMINISTRATIVE, 2016-2018, consists of correspondence from zine artists and distributors such as Brown Recluse Zine Distro, Look Mum Distro, and Zines Rasquache. Administrative files also include ephemera, such as postcards, flyers, buttons, and stickers. This series is arranged alphabetically by record type.

Series 2, ZINES BY SUBJECT, 1974-2017, consists of zines, with a particular focus on intersexuality, equality, and gender difference. This series is arranged alphabetically by main subject then title which contains author's name when available. Secondary subjects are listed at the end of each title. This organizational scheme was chosen because zines often touch upon various topics within a single issue. Titles of particular interest include bluestockings magazine, a Brown University, Providence-based zine that challenges dominant media narratives by centering communities systematically excluded from those discourses; Muchacha, a Latina feminist fanzine; SPACE zines (Space in Prison for Creative Arts and Expression), a zine that highlights the voices of incarcerated individuals in Rhode Island; Joyce Hatton's Think About the Bubbles #8, which chronicles the zinester's struggles with cancer as a poor black woman; and Queer Indigenous Girl, a zine highlighting intersectional identities and activism.

Series 3, Additions. The zines in this Series have been collected and curated by Brown University library staff. They have been deliberately separated from the rest of the collection to maintain the integrity of the original collection of zines gathered and curated by Malana Krongelb (Series 2). This series uses the same categories to organize the zines by subject as in Series 2.

Term Selection

Since part of what makes zines radical is that they resist categorization, deciding where to house zines proved difficult. Here is some clarification on the cataloging choices of the archivists.

The term IDENTITIES (fat identities, trans identities, disabled identities, Asian identities, etc.) is used to assert the significance, multiplicity, and complexity of people's identities. For example, a zine about being fat (most likely) does not analyze obesity rates like an academic article; it instead discuss the experience and/or political identity of fatness. Using "identities" gives the power back to the zinesters who share this knowledge, rather than using pathologizing terminology. It is also purposely plural to recognize that there is no one way to be fat. While identity politics can be limiting, we seek to put these works together to show possibilities for affinity and coalition building.

ABORTION is separated from gynecology because researchers often specifically search for the term, "abortion." It should be noted that some sexual health and gynecological resources are cis-centric and contradictory to other parts of the collection.

ART AND ACTIVISM refers to zines specifically addressing those two topics in their content. Art and art culture features art and photo zines and discussions of art institutions. Zine and print culture includes zines discussing zine tours, distros, and zine making, as well as things like radical bookstores and librarianship.

Chicanx identities, Latinx identities, and Filipinx identities have an x at the end to be gender neutral.

Zines regarding EATING DISORDERS are separated from those about disabled identities and mental illness because researchers often search for eating disorders specifically. The terms DISABLES IDENTITIES and MENTAL ILLNESS are included as part of the folder title.

Zines first and foremost categorized under FEMINISM refers specifically to zines where that is the main category. The entire collection is arguably feminist, and this categorization ignores how, for example, a Black feminist standpoint is present in several zines but without the use of the word feminism.

HOUSING AND HOMELESNESS refers to the physical and political idea of housing, while Home refers to the idea of home in the abstract (i.e. moving and not having a sense of home). While many activists have advocated for the term houselessness because many houseless people have a home, we chose to use homelessness because of its searchability.

INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE is used as an umbrella term for sexual assault, incest, rape, stalking, domestic violence, harassment, etc. Specific types of violence have been specified in the folder title when possible.

MENTAL ILLNESS is separated from disabled identities because of how often people search for mental illness specifically. The term disabled identities is included in the folder title.

MULTIRACIAL IDENTITIES refers to people of mixed race identity discussing that identity. Multiracial identities does NOT refer to several monoracial people of different races in one zine. In order to decenter whiteness and combat anti-Blackness, zines by multiracial people addressing a specific part of their identity are housed with that identity.

QUEER AND TRANS PEOPLE OF COLOR as a file location refers to zines that are compilation zines -- zines by multiple authors -- of queer and trans people of color.

WOMEN OF COLOR as a file location signifies that the zine's organizing principle is around women of color and not any other category. There are hundreds of zines by women and femmes of color in the collection, but few that are not specific to other identities or topics.