UC Irvine Libraries continue to grow our collections on womxn’s history and related topics that help document and honor the works of womxn. To celebrate Womxn’s History Month, this guide provides a partial list of online resources, archival materials, and media (fiction and nonfiction), as well as recent book additions to the Libraries. 

some online materials are accessible only to faculty, staff, and students with a valid UCInetID, many resources are open to the public, and all are available year-round as part of the UC Irvine Libraries’ ongoing effort to foster learning and increase access to a wide variety of scholarship.

For research help with gender and sexuality studies and related topics, contact Research Librarian for Interdisciplinary Studies Melissa Beuoy at melissa.beuoy@uci.edu or visit guides.lib.uci.edu for a complete list of Libraries’ Research Guides.

Online Resources

• Women’s History Month ebook collection on OverDrive (requires UC Irvine login)
• Curated collection of films on Kanopy (requires UC Irvine login)
• Curated collection of documentaries on Docuseek (requires UC Irvine login)
• Celebrating One and All: Women’s History Research Guide
• Gender and Sexuality Studies Research Guide
• History Vault: Women’s Studies (requires UC Irvine login) consists of records of suffrage organizations and other women's rights organizations; personal papers of women's rights advocates, many of whom were involved in the suffrage movement; and records on women at work during World War II.
• Women’s Studies Archive (requires UC Irvine login) contains digitized primary source material focused on the social, political, and professional achievements of women throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century; 5,700 monographs published between 1820 and 1922 in the United States and authored by women; and primary sources from 1780 to 2000. The archive also explores issues such as the abolition of slavery, alcohol and temperance movements, pacifism and political activism, domestic service, education, health and hygiene, divorce, and social reform.
• Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600–2000 (requires UC Irvine login) is divided into document projects that interpret and present materials, many of which are not otherwise available online, in US history and US women's history. In addition to audio-video, images, and other primary source materials, the collection includes a dictionary of social movements and organizations and teaching tools with lesson ideas.
• Feminist Periodicals is an open access index and annotated list of periodicals of more than125 English-language academic journals and magazines in feminism, gender and women’s studies, sexuality studies, and LGBTQIA+ studies. Highlighting work being done by scholars, organizers, journalists, and others across the globe, the site is strong for international and grassroots publications often missing from major databases.

Special Collections and Archives

Expand your knowledge of womxn’s history, including on the UC Irvine campus, by browsing some of Special Collections and Archives’ materials in the Online Archive of California. Collections span from as early as the 1940s to the 2010s. Try different search terms and filters for additional collections and see the Before Your Visit webpage for more information about requesting and accessing Special Collections and Archives’ materials.

Recent Additions

In addition to online resources and archival materials, recent acquisitions of books in the UC Irvine Libraries' circulating collection focus on the history, contributions, and experiences of womxn.

• The Barbie Phenomenon. Volume 1: Gender, Identity, Race and Sexuality, edited by Jo Coghlan, Lisa J. Hackett, and Huw Nolan (2026). Examines Barbie as a global cultural icon to explore how popular culture shapes and contests ideas about gender, race, sexuality, consumerism, and identity across historical and contemporary contexts.
• Embracing the Complexity of Gender, by Emily Keener (2025). Explores gender identity and expression through an inclusive, feminist, and developmental framework, drawing on psychology and social theory to examine gender as a multidimensional and socially constructed experience across the lifespan.
• Feminist Perspectives on Law and Literature, edited by Laura Schmitz-Justen (2025). Brings together international scholars to examine how intersectional feminist approaches illuminate the relationship between gender, law, and literary representation across issues such as reproductive justice, discrimination, and legal power.
• Gender, Sexuality, and Traditional Aphrodisiacs, by Oluwatobi Joseph Alabi (2026). Examines how Nigerian women use kayan mata to navigate intimacy, power, and survival, drawing on African feminist theory to explore sexual agency, resistance, and everyday strategies of self-determination within cultural and economic constraints.
• Girls' Media in the Women's Liberation Era, by Kirsten Pike (2026). Traces how girls’ media in the United States between 1968 and 1980 engaged with second-wave feminism, revealing how young audiences interpreted, negotiated, and responded to feminist ideas within popular culture. 
• Remnants of Refusal: Feminist Affect, National Trauma, by Erin Shevaugn Schlumpf (2025). Analyzes how feminist affect shapes literary and cinematic responses to national trauma in French and Chinese contexts, revealing how refusal, ambivalence, and exhaustion function as feminist strategies against historical erasure.
• Researching Language, Gender and Sexuality at Work, by Melissa Yoong (2026). Provides an accessible, step-by-step guide to researching how language shapes gender and sexuality in professional contexts, equipping students with interdisciplinary theories, methods, and practical tools for analyzing workplace communication.
• Sexuality, Masculinities and Resistance in South India, by K.P. Jayaraj (2025). Examines how sexuality and masculinities are socially constructed in contemporary South India, foregrounding the lived experiences of gender and sexually nonconforming men and the everyday forms of resistance that challenge hegemonic masculinity.
• Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and the Law in a Nutshell, by Ruth Colker (2026). Provides a concise and accessible overview of U.S. law governing sexual orientation and gender identity, covering topics such as nondiscrimination, family law, free expression, religious liberty, and the regulation of gender identity and sexuality.

Diversity of UC Irvine Libraries’ Collections

UC Irvine Libraries collect materials in all formats to support the university’s research, teaching, and public service mission.

We believe it is crucial that our collections reflect the diversity of our students, faculty, staff, and larger Orange County community. Thus, we are making an effort to collect materials that consider the needs and perspectives of historically underrepresented, marginalized, and oppressed groups. For more information, please refer to our Diversity Statement and Plan.

For additional information about UC Irvine Libraries’ efforts to celebrate diversity in its users, staff, collections, and resources, visit the UC Irvine Libraries Diversity webpage.