Outlander Society
The Outlanders (a.k.a. the Outlander Society or OS) was a former Los Angeles-area fan club for members of LASFS who lived in the "outlands" of Los Angeles, and thus found it difficult to make it to every meeting of LASFS. The organization was founded in October 1948 and the original eight members were Len Moffatt, Rick Sneary, Stan Woolston, John Van Couvering, Con Pederson, Bill Elias, Alan Hershey and Freddie Hershey. It met monthly.
The club had the reputation of being one of the more intellectual groups in fandom, in large part because of the clubzine, The Outlander. (Art Rapp called it fandom's "most articulate and intellectual group".) Meetings were all-day sessions, but were not business meetings: there were no dues, officers, or bylaws. Members stayed connected between meetings by a continuing chain letter.
When the Outlanders were founded in 1948, some of them began using the slogan "South Gate in '58" as an interlineation or filler in their fanzines – South Gate being the town where their founder Rick Sneary, a.k.a. "the Hermit of South Gate," lived. The idea was initially to promote an after 10-year reunion of the Outlanders, but eventually it became a successful Worldcon bid. The Solacon was held in a Los Angeles hotel which was ceded for the Labor Day weekend to the Mayor of South Gate by the Mayor of Los Angeles, as South Gate did not have a hotel large enough to host the event which drew fans in the hundreds.
| From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959 |
| A fanclub (formed October 1948) for people living outside the city limits of LA; Rick Sneary's group. It met approximately monthly till mid-52. Sneary, Moffatt, Woolston, Pederson, van Couvering, and Rory Faulkner were important members. Thirteen issues of OO The Outlander were published, and the Third Westercon was produced. |
| Club |
| This is a club page. Please extend it by adding information about when and where the club met, when and by whom it was founded, how long it was active, notable accomplishments, well-known members, clubzines, any conventions it ran, external links to the club's website, other club pages, etc.
When there's a floreat (Fl.), this indicates the time or times for which we have found evidence that the club existed. This is probably not going to represent the club's full lifetime, so please update it if you can! |
