Find out how to use the Library’s tools to read Essence magazine online and in print and get help troubleshooting Flipster, the eMagazines platform.  

Did you know SFPL provides access to the complete archive of Essence magazine issues? Learn how to use the Periodical Finder tool to look up different ways to read Essence through the Library, with an emphasis on reading new issues on Flipster. We’ll also have a selection of vintage Essence issues from the Main Library’s bound magazine collection on hand for you to browse. Every month the new issue of Essence is on display in the 5th floor reading room at the Main Library, as well as at eleven other SFPL locations.  

Essence magazine was founded in 1968 as a lifestyle magazine directed at upscale African American women and the first issue was published in May 1970. Since then it has been continuously published as a monthly magazine and remains a pillar in Black publishing. Read about the magazine’s 50th anniversary on the Essence website to learn more about the life and legacy of the people who made the magazine into a singular publication with a unique voice. Check out co-founder Edward Lewis’s autobiography, The Man from Essence: Creating a Magazine for Black Women to learn about the magazine from a firsthand entrepreneurial perspective.  

Flipster is an eMagazines platform that works on a desktop Internet browser or as an app on your iOS or Android device. Read more about Flipster. 

Librarians from the Magazines and Newspapers Center will be on hand to lead this workshop and offer personalized support to participants.