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In the 1970s and 1980s, feminist publications provided crucial connections among women in many U.S. cities and towns. Usually free, distributed in grassroots locations, each of their issues eagerly awaited, they linked and inspired women, put us in rich conversation with each other, changed the course of our lives, and supported diverse feminist initiatives (e.g., shelters for “battered women,” health services, aid for rape survivors, CR groups, cultural events, women’s centers, and advocacy for choice, equal pay, "welfare rights," women in prison, and more). Feminist efforts benefited enormously from these publications, generally produced by volunteers who considered their work more political than literary—yet their existence is nearly forgotten. Snowdon's project, grounded in her experience as editor of the national, Boston-based newspaper Sojourner, seeks to bring the fading history of these critical publications to light.

Shane Snowdon is a longtime feminist, LGBTQ, and public health advocate. She was editor/publisher of the national feminist journal Sojourner in the 1980s, and she has written extensively for feminist publications; her other feminist work has included stints as director of an urban domestic violence agency, two national women’s health initiatives, and the women’s center at the University of California Santa Cruz. She also founded the national Center for LGBT Health & Equity at the University of California San Francisco, where she taught on gender and sexuality, and she founded the national Health & Aging Program of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest U.S. LGBTQ organization. She also led a regional environmental center and a program providing training and employment to people who have been imprisoned, and she has consulted to and volunteered at numerous social justice non-profits.