NAPA (Mundane)

The National Amateur Press Association (NAPA) is one of the largest and oldest mundane APAs. However, many fans have been members of the National (as it is called informally), and some prominent fans have come into our microcosm through this association (Bill Danner, Helen Wesson, e.g.). NAPA is primarily a club for hobby printers with, naturally, some appeal to amateur writers. The mundane APAs predated fandom's, going back to the 1880s, but were the inspiration for fandom's, probably largely through the participation of H. P. Lovecraft as an amateur journalist and a member of both NAPA and UAPA.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

(Vorzimer) Not to be confused with N'APA, this was founded in November, 1953 under circumstances explained under Lifecon. It was composed of teen-age fan-publishers, with a core of founders in the LA area, of whom only Vorzimer and Larry Balint were well-known. NAPA attracted Terry Carr, Pete Graham, Russ Watkins, and others, but the first mailing never came out, since Vorzimer got interested in the publication of Abstract. The fact that there had existed a mundane NAPA for years dampened the enthusiasm of members, but never really stopped anything; many active meetings were held at the Vorzimer home on Laurel Canyon Blvd in Hollywood, and it kept a lot of teenagers, and Forry Ackerman, off the street.

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Publication

1953—

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