Rock & Resistance: The RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines

The visual punk rock aesthetics of the late 20th and early 21st century draw on themes of free expression, feminism and gender non-conformism, anti-establishmentarianism and political criticism, as well as liberation. These themes are likewise prevalent in zines—noncommercial, frequently homemade publications usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subjects. Emerging in opposition to established publications of their respective eras, zines amplified voices of resistance during periods of censorship, economic disparity, racial inequality, and political unrest. This paper presents examples of visual archival zine content within the scope of these themes, and especially related to "resistance", to underscore the importance of community-based archival practices in preserving underrepresented historical and current perspectives. Using a digital zine archive as a case in point, it demonstrates how zine archives function as cross-disciplinary resources for institutions, students, and scholars beyond their graphic content and make accessible material of artistic expression of marginalized groups that remains urgently relevant today.