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The Bruce Pelz Fanzine Collection


Bruce Pelz was a lifelong fanzine fan who collected amateur SF magazines exhaustively throughout his life. A UCLA librarian, he passed away in 2002. His entire collection of an estimated 190,000 fan magazines of all sorts has been physically relocated to the Special Collections Department on the 4th floor of the Rivera Library. Out of its boxes, it occupies the exterior shelves of the Special Collections running all along the east wall, and around the south wall. It is in the preliminary stages of being sorted in alphabetical order according to title, a massive operation in itself. Once the riches of the Pelz Collection have been fully classified and catalogued, it will permit scholars (fan and academic alike) to fill in enormous blanks in our knowledge about SF fandom, and indistinguishable from fandom, the development of SF literature and criticism. Even the most casual perusal of the Pelz fanzines show us that fanzine editors and contributors come from many walks of life. Yet, whatever their profession, or degree of fan seriousness, all are interconnected in fanzine pages by a shared fascination with the tales of scientific and technological advancement that form the corpus of science fiction. If  the Pelz Collection convinces us. in the end, that the fanzine remains an American product, then SF fans, and fanzine fans in particular, represent the culture that gave rise to the extraordinary development of scientific research in 20th century America. The Pelz documents contain invaluable data as to their tastes, ideas, beliefs. As such, they will prove an invaluable resource for 21st century researchers, as they seek to unravel the agonies and glories of the time when America came of age.

HERE are the samples of interesting fanzine titles, taken at random from the shelves of the Pelz Collection. Hopefully they will intrigue the viewer, and lead students and scholars of fan culture to further exploration of this rich trove of artifacts.

Search Bruce Pelz Fanzine Collection

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