1000 Years of Fandom

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By Joe Siclari: What does 1,000 years of fandom look like? At Worldcon 76, FANAC.org tried to find out. The pictorial project, started by Mark Olson, captures photos of fans new and old, each holding a sign with their years of fannish activity. Two photos exceeded 1,000 years (one of which was the Worldcon Chairs photo). In all, the project collected 6,707 years of fandom.  Photos from the “1000 Years of Fandom” project are available on FANAC.org.

Those who missed the start of the “1000 Years” can participate by sending us a photo of themselves and their friends holding a card with the number of years they have been in fandom. Send it to [email protected].

Warren Buff and friends, adding to 1,050 years of fandom. Photo by Lisa Hayes.

FANAC’s Fan History Project is dedicated to preserving and making available scans of original photos and publications from 1930 to the present, with a YouTube channel showcasing audio and video. The Fancyclopedia 3 website provides context and a Wikipedia like approach to fan history.

Photos from the project, with a running total at the bottom. Photo by Edie Stern.

Fan History Project links:

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10 thoughts on “1000 Years of Fandom”

  1. 40 years – my first big non-genre con was Westercon[e] in 1978, and I also went to Iggy. (I’d been reading SF since the early 60s, though.)

  2. 43 years for me — my first con was Kubla Khan (Nashville regional) in 1975, and my first Worldcon was SunCon in 1977.

  3. At least 39 years for me. The first con I can actually pin the date on was Apricon 1979 in NYC. But the actual *first* con I ever attended would have been a Star Trek / SF con held in Albuquerque sometime around 1977. I met Jack Williamson and A. E. Van Vogt. I still have a few books and pulps that Van Vogt signed for me. FIAWOL.

  4. I’m at 40 years also. I’ve pinned my first con down to Autoclave 3 in Detroit in 1978. My second was Mass ConFusion in Ann Arbor in 1979, and my third was Noreascon Two in Boston in 1980. After that it all went fuzzy for a while, but I went to many but not all worldcons, plus the occasional Boskone or Disclave (I had moved to near NYC). I never went to Lunacon because it was in March, I worked in public accounting, and that was peak busy season. I started going to WisCon in 1997 and have been going ever since, and I’ve been attending Arisia for several years now. Oh, and I’ve been to a handful of Smofcons, starting after I accidentally volunteered to run Access at LonCon 3. (I just said I would help!) I’m hoping to improve my finances to the point I’ll be able to start going to worldcons again.

  6. I didn’t know this was going on or I would have turned up with my 37 years (continuous) or 41 years (since my first con).

    I have sent some stuff to FANAC, though — they do good work. I’ll have to get a photo with the husband and our Worldcon roomies.

  7. 32 years for me since my first UNC SF club, Chimera, meeting. This year marks the first year in I don’t know how long that I haven’t attended a single con (being a poor grad student and all now).

  8. My number is an auspicious 42 years since Al Schuster’s January 1976 Star Trek con at the Statler-Hilton. Two years later John Townsley put me on Programming (such as it was…) for the ’78 TriStar edition. FIAWOL

  9. My first convention was either Windycon 4 in 1977 or Windycon 5 in 1978.

    Call it forty years….

  10. 45 years last winter — or maybe 50 years this fall; the first con that I actually went to was Boskone 1973, but there was an intermittent SF club in high school that organized a trip to see 2001 in pseudo-Cinerama.

    I can count over 500 years at a typical NESFA meeting, thinking only of the people I know were continuously active from the early 1980’s or before. (One member showed me the MITSFS library card I signed for him, but I don’t know whether he was coming to cons before he got active in NESFA early this millennium.) I may see if we can get to 1000 at the next meeting….

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