Throughout American history, women have worked in reform organizations, informal community groups, and consciousness-raising societies to change their neighborhoods, their states, and their nation. To accomplish social change, women have needed to communicate effectively among themselves and with society as a whole. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, women created numerous periodicals to address social, political, and economic issues. Many of these were short-lived newsletters, while others continue to be published today.

Through entries on more than 70 individual periodicals published in the 19th and 20th centuries, this reference traces the history of women's involvement in many of the social, political, and economic issues in the United States. From abolitionism to temperance, from moral reform to birth control, from suffragism to anti-suffragism, from pacifism to feminism, this reference surveys a wide range of social movements. Entries are arranged alphabetically and each is written by an expert contributor. Each entry overviews the history of the periodical and provides circulation and related information. The entries close with selected bibliographies, and the volume concludes with a chronology and a general bibliography.