"[2] Beginning in 1996 with only Joe Biel, an autistic, self-taught teenager, doing part-time mail order out of a bedroom in Cleveland, Ohio, Microcosm moved to Portland, Oregon in 1998.

Microcosm released records by The Taxpayers, Flotation Walls, Bedford, Organic, Cripple Kid, The Unknown, The Roswells, Little Dipper, Rock, Star.

Faith G Harper (Unf#ck Your Brain), Friday Gladheart (The Practical Witch's Almanac), Raleigh Briggs (Make Your Place), and Danny Caine (How to Resist Amazon and Why).

In 2006, the Utne Reader described Microcosm as an "esteemed Portland, Oregon-based publisher and distributor of zines, books, pamphlets, DVDs, and other fun stuff.

"[4] Microcosm is known for works about DIY lifestyles, 1970s aesthetics of instructional books for self-empowerment, a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, images and artwork celebrating bicycles, and radical politics.