Chicago Clubs
Chicago is another of those cities which has abounded with clubs over the years, many with confusingly similar names. Here are the clubs we know about arranged (roughly) in order of the date they were founded. The Floreat dates (fl.) cover the range of dates for which we have evidence the club was active. (The ranges are doubtless narrower than actual due to lack of information.)
Corrections are very welcome!
Contents
- 1 Chicago Science Fiction League
- 2 Chicago Science Fictioneers
- 3 University of Chicago Science Fiction Club
- 4 Chicago Science Fiction Society
- 5 Chicago Science Fiction League (II)
- 6 University of Chicago SF Society
- 7 Armchair Speculators of DePaul University
- 8 University of Illinois at Chicago Science Fiction Society
- 9 Thursday
- 10 ISFiC
- 11 American Hobbit Association
- 12 Queen to Queen's Three
- 13 West Suburban Science Fiction Society
- 14 Phandemonium
- 15 49th Ward Regular Science Fiction Organization, Inc.
- 16 Science Fiction and Fantasy Forum
- 17 The Nite Group
- 18 West Suburban Group
- 19 Super-Con-Duck-Tivity
- 20 Chicago Worldcon Bid
Chicago Science Fiction League[edit]
Chicago Science Fiction Club[edit]
fl. 1935-38
The CSFL (also known as TCSFL) was founded by Walter Dennis in 1935 as chapter #14 of the SFL. The club attracted members including founder Paul McDermott, Jack Darrow, Allen Kline, Arthur Hermann, Otto Binder, Earl Binder, Jack Binder, and William Dellenback. Sam Moskowitz called it "the outstanding chapter of the time."
Three of the members, Darrow, Binder, and Dellenback, planned to visit New York that summer to meet members of the New York chapter of the SFL. Charles D. Hornig planned a chapter meeting to take place at the offices of Wonder Stories, but the Chicago delegates arrived a day late and missed the meeting, instead visiting with Hornig, Mort Weissinger, and Julius Schwartz. Arguably, had this meeting happened, this would have been the first science fiction convention.
The club published the clubzine The Fourteen Leaflet from November 1935 through Spring 1937. In 1937, it severed its ties with the SFL and renamed itself the Chicago Science Fiction Club, but by the time the final issue was published, many club members had left Chicago and the club soon went dormant.
In 1990, Las Vegas fans claimed control of the CSFL and this claim was not disputed. What they did with it is unknown.
The Chicago Science Fiction League (II) (below) was an entirely separate group.
Chicago Science Fictioneers[edit]
fl. 1930s
The Fictioneers was an early SF club in Chicago, formed by fan W. Lawrence Hamling, apparently to run Chicon I -- though this did not happen and the Chicon was run by the Illini Fantasy Fictioneers instead. Jack Darrow was also a member.
University of Chicago Science Fiction Club[edit]
University of Chicago Science Fiction Society[edit]
fl. 1950-1960s
University of Chicago Science Fiction Club (Society) was founded in 1950 by Tom Seidman, George D'Asaro, and John Boardman. It published The Journal of Science Fiction and was part of CHIAC.
In its early years, club meetings were so informal as to be pretty chaotic -- though they weren't dull. Its 1952 Halloween party included an imitation black mass, which gained it unwelcome notice by the university's President. Earl Kemp became club President in 1953. Its faculty adviser was Nobel-Prize-winning chemist Harold Urey!
In 1963, the club split into two groups. By this time, none of the members were students at the University of Chicago, and many felt that the club had become stale. George Price, who had been doing the club's program and sending out meeting notices wanted a more sf-oriented group and began hosting a monthly meeting. Rosemary Hickey helped set up a monthly social group (including drinking) called the Chicago SF League. {is this the Hyde Park group??}
Along with the (second) Chicago Science Fiction League, it was part of CHIAC.
Chicago Science Fiction Society[edit]
Chicon II Society[edit]
fl. 1950-53
The Chicago Science Fiction Society AKA Chicon II Society was the organization which ran Chicon II, which see for more.
Chicago Science Fiction League (II)[edit]
Chicago SF League[edit]
fl. 1962-??
When the University of Chicago Science Fiction Club fell apart, it broke into two entirely new clubs, one named the Chicago Science Fiction League (the old Chicago SFL was long gone.) It was formed around 1962 by Rosemary Hickey and held monthly meetings on the first Saturday night of each month (except in months when a convention took place) at the home of Rosemary Hickey at 2020 North Mohawk Street and later at the home of George Price.
At Chicon III in 1962, they sponsored an exhibition of the art of Richard M. Powers on the Saturday of the convention. The league compiled the exhibit separately from the con and paid rent on the room themselves, asking con-attendees for voluntary donations to offset the cost.
Along with University of Chicago SF Club, it was part of CHIAC.
University of Chicago SF Society[edit]
fl. 1969-73
The University of Chicago SF Society was a new UofC club founded in April 1968 with Jerry Lapidus, Michael Jensen, Linda Kravinski and Charles Fuhrer as officers. By 1969, it was meeting in Ida Noyes Hall on campus. This club made a short-lived and unsuccessful bid for the 1973 Worldcon. See Chicago in '73.
Armchair Speculators of DePaul University[edit]
fl. 1970s
Founded in the early 70s, an active club which seems to have been a predecessor of General Technics. See Armchair Speculators of DePaul University for a much longer article.
University of Illinois at Chicago Science Fiction Society[edit]
fl. 1970s
(See University of Illinois SF Society for the Champaign-Urbana club.)
The University of Illinois at Chicago Science Fiction Society, a club at the University of Illinois Chicago Circle campus, published a clubzine, Tesseract, and fed heavily into Chicago fandom and Thursday.
In the 1970s, members included Robin Beal, E. Michael Blake, John Donat, Cory Glaberson, Kathy Hoover, Joy King, Jim Kobrinetz, Doug Price and Doug Rice.
Thursday[edit]
fl. 1970s and 80s
Thursday was an informal social gathering of Chicago fans which met weekly on Thursday nights during the 1970s and '80s. See Thursday for much more.
ISFiC[edit]
fl 1973-present
ISFiC is probably the most durable of all the Chicago clubs. It is not a social club, but is the group that runs Windycon. See ISFiC for a long article on the organization.
American Hobbit Association[edit]
Minas Aeron[edit]
fl 1977-89
The American Hobbit Association was a national Tolkien club that grew out of a Chicago club, Minas Aeron, and remained centered there. See American Hobbit Association for more.
Queen to Queen's Three[edit]
fl. 1979-present
A media SF club. Michael Jencevice has been its president since 1979.
West Suburban Science Fiction Society[edit]
fl. 1979-82
A club located in the western suburbs of Chicago. It was founded by Ken Mason. {Could this be related to the West Suburban Group?}
Phandemonium[edit]
fl. 1981-present
Phandemonium is the organization which runs Capricon. See Capricon and Phandemonium for more.
49th Ward Regular Science Fiction Organization, Inc.[edit]
fl. late 80s
An Illinois 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation created by Neil Rest to sponsor the Bermuda Triangle Bid for the 1988 Worldcon. Rest was President, Alexia Hebel was VP, and Hillarie Riley was Secretary.
The group’s name was a joking reference to the Chicago Democratic Party machine.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Forum[edit]
fl. 1989
An apparently short-lived Chicago club.
The Nite Group[edit]
fl. 1989
An apparently short-lived Chicago club.
West Suburban Group[edit]
fl. 1989
An apparently short-lived Chicago club.
{Could this be related to the West Suburban Science Fiction Society?}
Super-Con-Duck-Tivity[edit]
fl. 1993-2014 The organization that sponsored and ran DucKon, which see for more. It was centered in DuPage County which covers Chicago's western suburbs.
Chicago Worldcon Bid[edit]
fl. 2005-present?
THe organization that sponsored two Chicago Worldcon bids and Chicon 7. See Chicago Worldcon Bid for more.
