The 1970s were a crucial time in the women’s movement with events like Roe v. Wade in 1973 and the National Women’s Conference in 1977. The second-wave feminist and anarcha-feminist zines and alternative press periodicals in this collection were collected by feminist Henry “Wild Dog” Weissborn (1955-2008) to preserve this moment in history. As a sociology student and Yippie in the late 1970s, Weissborn organized the University of Houston (UH) Direct Action Committee. One of the zines in this collection, ULTRA, was created by Weissborn in 1978 as an un-official publication of that committee. In addition to his other D.I.Y. zine WILD DOG, ULTRA documented issues like civil disobedience, equal rights, and the rise of the punk counterculture. Weissborn also contributed to the inaugural issue of UH’s feminist newsletter Bread & Roses, another piece featured in this collection.

Weissborn collected the zines in this collection to preserve and share narratives of the 1970s that may have otherwise been written out of history. However, Weissborn’s collection was threatened by his untimely passing. Some items in his estate, like his famed record collection, were auctioned off while other collectibles were almost disposed of in the trash. The creators of the Wild Dog Archives saved those items and a portion of the zines and alternative press periodicals were donated to create this collection.

Source: https://wilddogzine.com/faqs/