Early Conventions

The first ten years of SF conventions were a mixed bag, but even the largest was small by modern standards, and some were literally a few guys getting together for a day. But travel was difficult and the tendency of the time was to call nearly any planned get-together of fans from different cities a "convention" (Or a "conference". See the Fancyclopedia 2 article on “con” for the baroque early terminology.)

Anglofan historians tend to take a a hard line on what was or wasn’t a convention (they would omit the First Convention if they could). We are inclined to take the participants’ estimation, even if they declared conhood after the event.

Year	Date	Convention	Attendance	Location	Notes
1936	October 22, 1936	First Convention	10-20	Philadelphia	later called the First Eastern
1937	January 3, 1937	Other First Convention	~20	Leeds, UK
	February 21, 1937	Second Eastern	30-40	New York
	October 30, 1937	Third Eastern		Philadelphia
1938	April 10, 1938	Second British Convention		London	(aka Necronomicon)
	May 29, 1938	Newark Convention	>100	Newark, NJ	aka Fourth Eastern aka First National
	October 16, 1938	1938 Philadelphia Conference	> 2 dozen	Philadelphia
1939	1939	Third British Convention		London
	July 2-4, 1939	NyCon I	150-200	New York	the first Worldcon
	Fall 1939	Philcon 1939		Philadelphia
	Early June 1939	OSA Pow-Wow	3	Tulsa, OK	Oklahoma state convention
1940	Early 1940	First Washington Confabulation	3	Washington, DC
	April 1940	Third Chicago Conference	4	Chicago
	May 4, 1940	All-Eastern Science Fiction Conference		Newark, NJ	May not have been held
	September 1-2, 1940	Chicon I	128	Chicago
	November 10, 1940	Phillycon 1940		Philadelphia
1941	late February 1941	Boskone I	~25	Winchester, MA	at the Swishers’ home
	Summer 1941	Second Washington Confabulation	~6?	Washington, DC	Issued Washington Manifesto
	July 4-6, 1941	Denvention I	~100	Denver
	September 20-21, 1941	Bombcon	13	London
	November 16, 1941	1941 Michiconference		Jackson, MI
1942	January 1942	PhilCo 1942		Philadelphia	Belatedly announced for January 1942, but called off in favor of Boskone II.
	February 22, 1942	Boskone II	25	Boston, MA
	September 27, 1942	1942 Michiconference	~25	Jackson, MI
	November 29, 1942	Hastings S-F Conference	v. small	Hastings, MN	possibly a drinking party
	November 22, 1942	Bloomington Conference	9	Bloomington, IL	possibly a poker game
	Late 1942	Pacificon Jr.		Los Angeles, CA
1943	February 28, 1943	Boskone III	14	Boston, MA
	Spring 1943	Midgicon	10?	Chicago
	Spring 1943	Live Oak Conference	3	Live Oak, FL	A Cosmic Circle event
	Easter 1943	Midvention		Leicester, UK
	May 16, 1943	Staplecon 1	~12	San Francisco
	Summer 1943	MeCon	3	Rockland, ME
	mid 1943	Mainecon Jr.	2	Maine	somewhere in Maine...
	mid 1943	Schenectacon	2-4	Schenectady, NY
	October 30, 1943	1943 Michiconference	22	Battle Creek, MI
	November 21, 1943	Staplecon 2		San Francisco
	"around the end" 1943	Fancon		Bloomington, IL
	late 1943?	Councilcon		Newcastle, IN	Possibly occurred only in Claude Degler’s imagination
	December 31, 1943-January 2, 1944	Norcon	small	Manchester, UK
1944	April 8-9, 1944	Eastercon		London
	May 28, 1944	Staplecon 3	9	San Francisco
	June 17-19, 1944	Michicon 4	23	Battle Creek, MI
	August 27, 1944	Dovention	11	Dover, NJ
	September 1–2, 1944	Midvention 2		Leicester, UK
	October 7-9, 1944	Little Chicon	"small"	Chicago
	December 29, 1944–January 1, 1945	Norcon 2	small	Manchester, UK	Announced — did it occur?
1945	February 3-4, 1945	Boskone IV	5	Winchester, MA	at the Swishers’ home
	July 7-8, 1945	1945 Michiconference	15-20	Battle Creek, MI
	September 2, 1945	Boskone V	9	Salem, MA	AKA First New England SF Conference
1946	March 3, 1946	FPWESFC		Newark, NJ
	April 6–7, 1946	First Post-Radar-Contact-with-the-Moon Con	16	Chicago
	August 30–September 1, 1946	Pacificon I	130	Los Angeles
	October 12–13, 1946	Centracon	25	Chicago
	October 27, 1946	Phillycon 1946		Philadelphia

See the Fancyclopedia 2 article on Conventions.

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Fanhistory

1936—1946

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