The Fan Culture Preservation Project began in 2009 as a partnership between the OTW and the Special Collections department at the University of Iowa Libraries.
The first major donation brokered by OTW was the Fanzine Archives, a collection of over 3,000 classic zines — more than 62 boxes! — previously housed in Santa Barbara, CA. The OTW was able to help the retiring archivist, Ming Wathne, save and protect this valuable collection, which is now cataloged in a finding aid on the library website. Since that time, we have helped many other longtime fans donate their collections to the library.
See a list of collections donated to the University of Iowa through the FCPP below, or visit the University of Iowa Libraries’ Fandom-Related Collections. Please note that this is a partial list, and additional donations continue to be added to the Organization for Transformative Works Fanzine and Fan Fiction Collection.
The OTW continues to work with the University of Iowa Libraries by facilitating the donation of zines and other fannish artifacts to the Iowa collections.
Marian Mendez Blake’s 7 Fanzines Collection
February 2013
Assorted print materials, primarily fanzines, from the Blake’s 7 fandom.
Deidre Johnson Media Fandom Materials Collection
July 2012
Books, magazines, fanzines, comic books, catalogs, clippings, scripts, and merchandise primarily from the television series Battlestar Galactica.
Laura Leach Collection of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” Fanzines and Related Materials
October 2010
This is a large collection of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. fanzines dating from 1964-2006. It also includes some multifandom and crossover zines and episode scripts.
Morgan Dawn Fanzine and Fanvid Collection
September 2010
This collection includes material from a wide variety of fandoms dating from 1976-present, including several one-of-a-kind “custom zines,” DVDs of vids, and convention materials.
Morgan Dawn “The Professionals” Circuit Library and Fanzine Collection
September 2010
The Professionals Circuit Library and Fanzine Collection, a collection of Professionals fanfiction that was distributed through private networks in the 1980s and 1990s.
Debbie Hoover Collection
December 2009
Twenty-three large boxes — almost 1,500 zines — dating from the late 1970s to present. Includes Star Trek, Star Wars, various cop shows, Stargate, The X-Files, and Robin Hood.
Watchers of CIS Collection of Highlander Fan Materials
October 2009
This Highlander: The Series collection features print masters and copies of The Prize, a newsletter produced by the fan group Watchers of CIS. There are also publicity materials, merchandise catalogs, news clippings and other fan artifacts related to Highlander.
Brian Knapp Zines Collection
September 2009
This is a large collection of classic zines from the 1970s and early 1980s. It includes such titles as The Green Dome (The Prisoner), Locus, Menagerie, Spockanalia, Future Wings, The Goddess Uhura, and the Kraith Collected Volumes 1-6. Other notable items include Sing A Song of Trekkin (A Fun-Filled Folio of 20 Trekker “Filk” Songs), and several years’ worth of annuals from the J.D.I.F.C. (James Doohan International Fan Club), as well as souvenir programs from I-Con, Arisia, MiniTrekCon, Creation Con ’79, and New York Star Trek ’76.
Susan Hill Collection
August 2009
Susan Hill’s collection encompasses a number of British-made Blake’s 7 zines and letterzines, as well as a few from other fandoms and some multimedia zines from the 1990s. The collection also features programs and other con materials from MediaWest and InConJunction, as well as a copy of “The Professionals Drinking Game.”
Celeste Hotaling-Lyons Collection
July 2009
A collection of hundreds of zines from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, featuring fandoms such as Blake’s 7, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, Max Headroom, and Forever Knight.
Organization for Transformative Works Fanzine and Fan Fiction Collection
July 2009
The general OTW collection includes a wide variety of analog fanworks. Materials in this collection have been donated by numerous fans, some of whom wish to remain anonymous.
- UMF: The ‘Zine for the Creative Duranie was a zine dedicated to Duran Duran fanfiction. It ran for ten issues, from 1993 – 1998. We currently hold issues 3, 5, and 6.
- Collection of mostly Kung Fu: The Legend Continues and Quantum Leap zines, as well as miscellaneous MacGyver, Rat Patrol, and zines about various TV westerns.
- Collection of multifandom (e.g. Storm Signs, Wounded Heroes), Quantum Leap (incl. various issues of The Angel and the Dreamer, Quantum Instability, and others), Sentinel, and Due South zines.
- Collection of zines in a number of fandoms, including: Alias Smith & Jones, Blake’s 7, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Highlander, The Sentinel, and others.
- Collection of zines in a number of fandoms including The Real Ghostbusters and The Man From U.N.C.L.E., as well as several multimedia anthologies.
- Collection of Simon and Simon letterzines and fiction zines in various fandoms; these zines originally came from the collection of Alison Wilson, who was involved in many fandoms until her death in the late 1990s. An avid fan and fanfiction writer, she was cited in Textual Poachers by Henry Jenkins.
- Collection of The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Blake’s 7 zines donated by Joanna Lowenstein in memory of Beth Kiedrowicz, media fan and regular attendee of WisCon. These zines originally come from Beth’s collection.
Mariellen (Ming) Wathne Fanzine Archive Collection
April 2009
The Fanzine Archive Collection contains thousands of fanzines focused on Star Wars that were originally collected by Lucasfilm Ltd., producer of the Star Wars series. This collection was offered back to fans in the 1990s, and a California fan named Mariellen Wathne accepted it and began a lending library to distribute zines among fans. In addition to Star Wars fanzines, there are also many fanzines related to Star Trek, including some of the most important early pieces. (A fund in memory of Ming Wathne has been created at Iowa to support this collection. See this post for more details.)