View source for A History of Fandom in 100 Documents

What hundred documents tell the story of [[fandom]]?  We're not talking history books here, but documents and articles which ''themselves'' formed our culture from the earliest days until today.

The list is just starting.

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Year || Document ||Author/Editor || Notes 
[[1926]] || ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' (April)|| [[Hugo Gernsback|Hugo&nbsp;Gernsback]] || Inaugural issue of the first [[prozine|science-fiction magazine]]. 
[[1927]] || [[First Fan Letter with Address]],<br>''[[Amazing Stories]]'' (August) || [[John Mackay]] || The first [[loc|letter]] written to a [[prozine]] [[letter column]] published with a [[fan]]'s address, a necessary baby step towards [[fandom]]. 
[[1930]] || First [[ish]] of ''[[The Planet]]'' (July)  ||[[Allen Glasser]] || The [[clubzine]] of [[The Scienceers]], considered the [[First Fanzine]].
rowspan="2"|[[1934]] || Announcement of the formation<br>of the [[Science Fiction League]], <br>''[[Wonder Stories]]'' (May)||[[Hugo Gernsback]]|| The [[SFL]], probably the single most important [[fan]] [[organization]] of the 1930s, advanced the first [[protofans]]’ collective self awareness. 
Announcement of the [[Society for the Prevention of Wire Staples in Science Fiction Magazines]], ''[[Astounding Stories]]'' (November) ||[[Bob Tucker]]|| Launch of the [[Great Staple War]]. 
[[1936]]|| Photo of fans at the [[First Convention]] (October 22) || [[Herbert E. Goudket]]||
rowspan="2"|[[1937]]|| First [[mailing]] of [[FAPA]] (August) ||[[Don Wollheim ]] and [[John Michel]]|| The first [[fan]] [[apa]]. 
“[[Mutation or Death!]]” (October 30) || [[John B. Michel]]|| Transcript of the speech delivered by [[Donald A. Wollheim]] for Michel at the [[Third Eastern Science Fiction Convention]], [[Philadelphia]]: A [[Michelist]] manifesto. 
rowspan="2"|[[1938]] || “[[Science Fiction Internationale]]” (May 29) ||[[John B. Michel]]|| [[Michelist]] anthem [[filk book|song sheet]] passed out at the [[Newark Convention]] &mdash; the first [[filksong]]?
''[[S. F. Checklist]]'' 1 (October)  || [[R. D. Swisher|R. D.]] and [[F. N. Swisher]]|| Launch of a project of making a listing of all the [[fanzines]] that ever appeared anywhere, now being continued on this site. 
rowspan="4"|[[1939]] ||[https://fanac.org/conpubs/Worldcon/Nycon%20I/Nycon%201%20Program%20Book.pdf Program Book] of the [[First Worldcon]] (July 2) ||[[Nycon]] [[concom]]||
''[[A Warning!]]'' (July 2) || [[Dave Kyle]] || The [[yellow]] [[pamflet]] of [[Michelist]] agitprop that Kyle [[pubbed]] for the [[First Worldcon]], triggering the first [[Exclusion Act]].
[[Loc]] in the [[lettercol]] of the [https://archive.org/details/Thrilling_Wonder_Stories_v14n01_1939-08 August 1939 issue] of ''[[Thrilling Wonder Stories]]'' (published in July) || [[Neil A. Lafferty, Jr.]]||It begins: “[[Goshwow|Gosh! Wow! Boyoh-boy!]], and so forth and so on.”
“Amazing! Astounding!” (July 10) || Time Magazine || [[Mundane]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20080906184034/https://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,761661-1,00.html news coverage] of the [[SF]] field and [[NyCon]], which commented,” “[[Scientifiction]]'s fans, mostly boys of 16 to 20, are the jitterbugs of the pulp magazine field” and drew attention to the letter above. 
[[1948]] || ''[[Ah! Sweet Idiocy!]]'' || [[Francis Towner Laney]]|| FTL’s [[gafiation]] [[fanoir]]. 
[[1949]] || [https://www.fanac.org/fanzines/Spacewarp/Spacewarp27.pdf “Introduction to Roscoism”], ''[[Spacewarp]]'' 27 (June 1949)|| [[Art Rapp]] || The Word of [[Roscoe]]. 
[[1954]] ||''[[The Enchanted Duplicator|The&nbsp;Enchanted&nbsp;Duplicator]]'' || [[Walt Willis]] and [[Bob Shaw]] ||Possibly the most reprinted work in [[fandom]], ''[[The Enchanted Duplicator]]'' is an allegory which crystallized a particular image of what [[fandom]] ought to be and gave shape to [[fandom]]'s future. 
rowspan="2"|[[1955]] || ''[[The Neo-Fan's Guide]]'' || [[Bob Tucker]] || Tucker’s essential introduction to [[fandom]]. 
“[[The March of Slime]]” (April) ||[[MaD Productions]]||The introduction of [[blog]], presented at [[Cytricon I]]. 
rowspan="2"|[[1960]]|| ''[[Who Killed Science Fiction?]]''|| [[Earl Kemp|Earl]] and [[Nancy Kemp]]|| Results of a [[poll]] on the subject by 71 [[BNFs]] and [[pro]]s, aka ''[[SaFari Annual]]'' 1. 
''[[Ex-Inchmery Fan Diary]]''||[[Vince Clarke]]||Clarke’s [[gafiation]] [[zine]], covering [[Inchmery Fandom]] and its dissolution plus 1950s [[fandom]] in the [[U.K.]] and [[U.S.]], [[TAFF Wars]] and the [[WSFS, Inc.]], brangle.
[[1961]]|| ''[[Why Is a Fan?]]''|| [[Earl Kemp|Earl]] and [[Nancy Kemp]]|| Dozens of fans' opinions on what brought people into [[fandom]], aka ''[[SaFari Annual]]'' 2. 
[[1963]] || ''[[The Great Breen Boondoggle|The&nbsp;Great&nbsp;Breen&nbsp;Boondoggle,&nbsp;or All Berkeley Is Plunged into War]]'' || [[Bill Donaho]]|| The first public sally in the [[Breendoggle]].
[[1965]] ||''[[Con-Committee Chairman's Guide]]'' || [[George Scithers|George&nbsp;Scithers]] ||A long document describing how Scithers ran [[Discon I]], the 1963 [[Worldcon]]. It is noteworthy because it describes in interesting detail how a [[Worldcon]] was run back when they were still small. 
[[1971]] || “[[An Open Letter to the British Tolkien Society]]” || [[Steven Parry]] and [[Grahame Lamb]] || Suggests the creation of [[local]] groups ([[smials]]) of the [[Tolkien Society]].
[[1974]]||''[[Whichness of the Why]]''||[[Bill Fesselmeyer]] ||A [[poll]] on alternative methods of limiting attendance at [[Worldcon]], specifically [[MidAmeriCon]], in reaction to the rising [[Alarm and Despondency]] at the [[increase in convention sizes in the 1970s]].
[[1975]] || [[MidAmeriCon]] [[Progress Report]] 2||[[Tom Reamy]]||Along with stunningly high production values, this [[PR]] is notable for two [[articles]], [[MAC]] [[Chairman]] [[Ken Keller]]’s “You Think You’ve Got Trouble,” announcing [[MAC]]’s policies to sharply escalate [[membership]] fees culminating in [[at-the-door]] rates of an unheard of $50, and to eliminate any [[programming]] on [[fringe fandom|special interest areas]] of [[comics]], ''[[Star Trek]], Planet of the Apes'', and the [[Society for Creative Anachronism]] &mdash; as fandoms that had “out grown the need of a ‘shelter’ under the wing of the World ''Science Fiction'' Convention” and were “independent and have their own conventions (or large gatherings) and exist completely apart from mainstream science fiction fandom” &mdash; and “[[How the GRINCH Stole Worldcon]]” by [[Bill "The Galactic" Fesselmeyer]], a classic of [[smof]]fish [[faan fiction]]. 
[[2001]] || ''[[The CONTACT! Fanthology]]'' (October) || [[Dick Smith|Dick]] and [[Leah Smith]]||72 [[fans]] on how they made [[Contact (Wand)|contact]] with [[fandom]], aka ''[[Spirits of Things Past]]'' 4, [[pubbed]] for [[Ditto 14]]/[[FanHistoricon 11]]. 
[[2024]] || [[2023 Hugos#Controversy|2023 Hugos Nominations Statistics]]||[[Dave McCarty]] and the [[Chengdu Worldcon]] [[Hugo Awards]] subcommittee ||
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{{fanhistory|start=1926}}
[[Category:List]]