Fritz Leiber.

The University of Houston Libraries has the largest collection of Fritz Leiber’s papers. They have scanned and posted at their website many publications Leiber brought home from conventions over the decades – complete program books (particularly for the World Fantasy Convention), newsletters, Leiber’s own manuscripts for GOH speech and convention reports.

This digital collection provides a glimpse into the world of science fiction and fantasy conventions during the 1970s and 1980s. It features programs, pamphlets, newsletters, flyers, and other documents collected by writer Fritz Leiber as he attended science fiction and fantasy conventions across the United States and internationally. Leiber often actively participated in these conventions, as a planner, speaker, or presenter. In all, the collection contains over 200 items.

With the recent controversy about the World Fantasy Award’s Lovecraft statuette, this is a timely opportunity to see Kirby McCauley’s flyer for the first World Fantasy Convention which says in part —

The overall plan of the convention is to focus on the serious side of fantasy literature. Fritz Leiber recently reflected on one of the effects of his correspondence with Lovecraft. “…I became convinced that the supernatural horror story and the fantasy (and the sword-and-sorcery story) are as much high art as any other sort of fiction ….” That’s exactly the guiding light of belief for his convention: to gather for serious exploration into, and discussion of, fantasy art….”

[Thanks to Matthew Davis for the story.]