Records of Teen Voices, 1990-2023 (inclusive), 1990-2012 (bulk)
Overview
The culmination of the Teen Voices Legacy Project to collect the history of Teen Voices magazine, the Records of Teen Voices primarily document the organization and programming of Teen Voices (formerly Women Express, Inc.).
Dates
- Creation: 1990-2023
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1990-2012
Creator
- Teen Voices (Organization)
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Most of the collection is open for research.
Folders 2.1-3.3, 3.9-4.2, 4.5, and 5.3, are closed until January 1, 2060 per donor request.
E.10 is closed until January 1, 2060 per donor request.
E.12 contains personal identifiable information (PII) and is closed until January 1, 2092.
Researchers must contact Research Services for access to the following electronic files: E.9 and E.11.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Teen Voices as well as copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
4.3 linear feet ((8 file boxes, 1 folio box) plus 2 folio folders, 1 folio+ folder, 5 photograph folders)5060 Megabytes
This collection is the result of the Teen Voices Legacy Project (TVLP), a collecting project of Our Bodies Ourselves. Led by former Executive Director Jenny Amory and Director of Transformational Leadership Saun Green, a group of former Teen Voices (TV) staff, board, national advisory board, and peer leaders solicited materials from former members of the TV community with the purpose of donating the subsequent collection to the Schlesinger Library. This collection is comprised of the donations of 65 such individuals. Electronic records were received on 12 CDs, 1 DVD, 2 USBs, and a digital photo frame. A set of files were also delivered via Dropbox. Disks were imaged using FTK Imager.
The bulk of the collection is comprised of organizational materials that shed light on how Teen Voices was run, from discussions about fundraising through article drafts and artwork. While there is not much material related to creating specific issues of TV, the collection provides researchers a glimpse into the work behind the programming and mentorship TV provided to the Boston community (as well as San Francisco, California, and globally).
There is significantly more born digital material than physical within the collection. The born digital material was arranged by participants in the TVLP, with most of the material coming from Jenny Amory and Saun Green. Both Amory and Green appear to have put thought into how they organized their digital materials; Amory's materials are arranged (primarily) alphabetically first, then chronologically within that, while Green's materials are arranged (primarily) chronologically first, with groupings within each year.
Materials in the Teen Voices records include trademark files, financial materials (primarily audit reports), meeting agendas and minutes, documentation and training materials, articles and drafts, artwork, poetry, presentations, correspondence, donation appeals, forms, biographies, resumes, notes, strategic plans, flyers, reviews, interviews, clippings, planning documents, emails, photographs, and videos.
Series I, ORGANIZATION, 1990-2021, undated (#1.1-8.11, FD.1-FD.2, F+D.1), gives insight into how Teen Voices was run, including the activities of a few of Teen Voices' various committees and materials from the Board of Directors. A significant portion of this series is made up of trademark files, which include correspondence, notes, and reports on various trademarks such as celebratory event Amplify!, Guidance for Grown Ups, Changing the World for Girls Through Media, Girl-Generated Media, and the transition from Women Express to Teen Voices.
Series II, BORN DIGITAL, 1994-2023, undated (inclusive), 1994-2012 (bulk) (#E.1-E.12), was gathered and arranged by participants in the Teen Voices Legacy Project (TVLP), with the bulk of the materials coming from Jenny Amory and Saun Green. The materials document the activities of Teen Voices staff and board members, and include board materials; boilerplate forms and letters; budgets; meeting minutes and agendas; funding applications and potential donors; press releases; staff meeting agendas; quarterly reviews; staff retreat logistics, planning, agendas, and notes; mission and vision statements; correspondence; workshop materials; project overviews; conference presentations; interviews; transcripts; photographs; and video. Of note are folders E.9 and E.11, which came to the Schlesinger Library on separate USB drives. Unlike E.1-E.8, these two USB drives contained a significant amount of material and appeared to be intentionally arranged in a nested file structure prior to donation (for example, many titles within these folders contain a note saying "reviewed"). Due to the apparent intentional arrangement and volume of the materials within E.9 and E.11, the archivist left the materials in their original order. Because of their size and complexity, they must be accessed via the Schlesinger Library's virtual reading room.
Series II, PHOTOGRAPHS, 2001-2003, 2010, 2021, undated (PD.1-PD.5), includes photographs of former staff members, interns, and students as well as events and office life.
Most of the photographs in this collection are or will be digitized and available online.
HISTORY
In 1988, Alison Amoroso and Christine Diamond co-founded Women Express Inc. (WE), a private non-profit located in Boston, Massachusetts, with the goal of furthering social and economic justice by empowering teenage and young adult women through writing. To accomplish this mission, Women Express began publishing the magazine Teen Voices in the spring of 1990. Aimed at girls ages 14-19, Teen Voices was written for, edited by, and about teenaged girls.
Women Express began as an entirely volunteer-run organization that ran out of a local YMCA. In 1993 they hired their first paid staff, and in 1997 WE moved into an office building in downtown Boston. Increasingly staff and the public began to use Teen Voices as both the name of the magazine and the organization itself, rather than keeping a distinction between WE and Teen Voices the magazine. Concerned that donors would be confused by the two names, the official name of the organization was changed to Teen Voices in 2010.
From 1990-2012, Women Express published 63 issues of Teen Voices, and what began as a quarterly black and white zine became a 58-page, full-color, glossy magazine. With the tagline "You're more than a pretty face," Teen Voices published content that covered a variety of topics not typically seen in mainstream magazines of the day, including gender and sexual identity, racial and economic justice, feminism, nutrition, mental health, relationships and sexual activity, sexual harassment and abuse, family dynamics, objectification and aggression against women, school/education, careers, parental abuse, eating disorders, and health issues. Contributions to the magazine were solicited globally, and included articles, poetry, essays, reviews, art, and opinion pieces.
Print readership ranged from 45,000 to 75,000 per issue; the 1999 launch of a supplementary online magazine brought as many as 6 million unique visitors annually. The most regular subscribers were schools, libraries, and girls' nonprofits, which would distribute the magazines to teens.
In 1996, a sister chapter called Bay Area Teen Voices (BATV) was founded by Melina O'Grady and Jennifer Plummer. Located in San Francisco, California, its primary focus was on-site workshops at local high schools, community centers, and institutions. BATV's core class, with a curriculum based on art education models, ran from 1996-2002 at North Campus Continuation High School in San Pablo. Of note was BATV's collaboration with the Solutions Group, based in San Francisco's Juvenile Hall. This collaboration resulted in the "Girls in the Hall" exhibit hosted at the Boys and Girls Club in the Mission District, as well as satellite events around the city. It drew on weekly workshops in the girls unit at the Juvenile Hall and focused on raising public awareness about the city's juvenile justice pipeline. BATV also created exhibitions and zines, hosted events, and contributed feature articles to Teen Voices until its closure in 2003.
Alongside the magazine, Teen Voices offered a variety of mentor programs, including SHOUT! (Sisters Helping Other Unheard Teens), a program pairing teens with college student mentors; the Teen Editorial Board, a mentorship program teaching teens how to edit Teen Voices; Voices on The Net, a program that focused on media literacy; Girls on Board, a mentor program where teens served on the Women Express board; and the Peer Leader program, where teens with long-term experience at Teen Voices facilitated workshops and helped mentor their peers.
The Spring/Summer 2012 issue was the final edition of Teen Voices. Over the spring and summer of 2012, the Teen Voices board attempted to raise emergency funds to keep the magazine going. These efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, and the organization ceased operations in August 2012. To continue the mission of Teen Voices, the board announced a partnership with WriteBoston, a local girls' writing program, and Women's eNews. In November 2014 Teen Voices was officially dissolved.
ARRANGEMENT
The collection is arranged in three series:
- Series I. Organization, 1990-2021, undated (#1.1-8.11, FD.1-FD.2, F+D.1)
- Series II. Born Digital, 1994-2023, undated (inclusive), 1994-2012 (bulk) (#E.1-E.12)
- Series III. Photographs, 2001-2003, 2010, 2021, undated (#PD.1-PD.5)
Physical Location
Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession numbers: 2023-M83; 2022-M89; 2022-M146; 2022-M162
The records of Teen Voices were given to the Schlesinger Library in 2022 by Judy Norsigian, board chair of Our Bodies Ourselves, and the Teen Voices Legacy Project (a project of OBOS).
Processing Information
Processed: December 2023
By: Emily Mathay, with assistance from Janin I. Escobedo Garcia.
The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Creator
- Teen Voices (Organization)
- Title
- Teen Voices. Records of Teen Voices, 1990-2023 (inclusive), 1990-2012 (bulk): A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- Sponsor
- Processing of this collection was made possible by Susan Parkman Atkinson Fund, Mary Brown Milbank Fund, and Patricia M. King/Schlesinger Library Director's Fund.
- EAD ID
- sch02241
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.