Little Magazine Collection

The Little Magazine collection provides an important key to understanding modern literature. Characterized by their non-commercial attitudes and their penchant for the avant-garde and experimental, little magazines have continuously rebelled against established literary expression and theory by demonstrating an aggressive receptivity to new authors, new ideas, and new styles. Such publications usually have very small circulations, and are frequently short-lived; many die after publishing only one or two issues.

To learn more about Little Magazines, have a look at our Introduction to Little Magazines Learning Module!

Using the Collection

The Collection is non-circulating. Patrons are required to use the materials in the Reading Room. The collection is cataloged online in our Library Catalog at the title level. Issue-level details are being added in on ongoing project. The Department of Special Collections maintains complete manual files. Some titles have been digitized or are available in reprint or microfilm format. We recommend that visiting scholars and researchers write or call ahead for additional information about holdings.

Many reference works and secondary sources about little magazines and publishers or contributors thereof are included in the the Reference section of Special Collections, adjacent to the Reading Room. In addition, the Department of Special Collections has kept a file of interviews appearing in all issues received since 1975 (a yearly index is now published in Serials Review). Interviews contain valuable biographical and bibliographical information.

Little Magazine Interview Index

From 1975 to 2013 we produced a searchable yearly index of all interviews found in issues received. Many of these were not indexed elsewhere. This index represents interviews from print publications only. The index was published yearly in the journal Serials Review. The internet has made such interviews much more easily discovered and we have discontinued the index – however it is still available for searching as it is.

Little Magazine Websites

• Abraham Lincoln: the Magazine
• Antigonish Review
• Artifice
• The Café Review
• The Capilano Review
• The Fiddlehead: University of New Brunswick
• The Interpreter’s House: Poems and Short Stories
• Jabberwock Review: Mississippi State University
• Naugatuck River Review
• The Pinch Journal: University of Memphis
• Reed Magazine: San Jose State University
• The Texas Review Press

Literary Magazine Reference Websites

• Literary Magazines directory from Poets & Writers
• [clmp]: Council of Literary Magazines and Presses

Literary Magazine Digital Collections

• Independent Voices
• The Modernist Journals Project at Brown University
• Jacket2 Reissues
• Monoskop Avant-garde and Modernist Magazines