Fanzine Archives
| Name: | The Fanzine Archives: A Library for the Preservation & Circulation of Fan-created Material |
| Date(s): | mid-1980s - current day |
| Archivist: | Ming Wathne (mid-1980s - 2009), Special Collections Department of the University of Iowa Libraries |
| Founder: | Ming Wathne |
| Type: | zine collection |
| Fandom: | multi |
| URL: | old internet home page Ming's University of Iowa collection Other zine collections at the University of Iowa  |
| Click here for articles related to this site on Fanlore. | |
The Fanzine Archives (full name: The Fanzine Archives: A Library for the Preservation & Circulation of Fan-created Material) is a collection of fanfiction zines owned and circulated by Ming Wathne (aka Mariellen Wathne) from the mid-1980s to 2009. Now called the Mariellen (Ming) Wathne Fanzine Archive Collection, it currently resides in the at the Special Collections department of the University of Iowa Libraries and was the first major collection of zines to be saved and preserved part of the OTW's Fan Culture Preservation Project.
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History
The foundation of the Fanzine Archive was the Corellian Archives, which started because of Lucasfilms' attempt to control Star Wars fanfic. By 1981, Lucasfilms was telling fanzine editors that they needed to send Lucasfilms two copies of each fanzine they produced that had Star Wars content. Years later, Lucasfilms gave up on the idea, and offered the pile of fanzines to fandom. Ming Wathne immediately offered her garage to the collection, and used it as the genesis of a repository of all Star Wars zines. She announced the Corellian Archives, and fanzine editors throughout Star Wars fandom started sending her a copy or two of their zines.
By the 1990s, other fans were asking if she'd take copies of non-Star Wars zines, and she started collecting them, too, eventually remodeling her house to make shelf space for the hundreds, then thousands of different fanzines she acquired and cataloged. Local fans helped log in new zines, but was Ming's show for more than 20 years.
Practices and Procedures of Circulation, mid-1980s - 2008
The final version of Ming's library became known as The Fanzine Archives: A Library for the Preservation & Circulation of Fan-created Material. The Fanzine Archives became a federally recognized, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and circulation of fanzines. The Archives maintained an active circulating library of over 300 fanzines, and a permanent collection of over 3,000 titles. Fandom is never easy to communicate with. When she acquired a zine, Ming wrote the fanzine editor according to the address in the zine (often many years out of date), but frequently was unable to make sure that the original zine editor or publisher would want their zine circulating in the library. (She was smart enough to use opt-out: her form letter says "if you DON'T reply within xx days, your work WILL be included." but zine editors were also welcome to change their mind and withdraw a zine from circulation if they wanted.)
The Fanzine Archive site posted a list of "Other things you should know about the Library." These included:
- Original zines are not circulated, only copies (except in the case where the Library has multiple copies of a fanzine in the collection).
- Only the zines marked "AVAILABLE" are ready to be borrowed.
- If you want to borrow a zine marked "Needs Sponsor", you must pay copy charges to create the circulating copy.
- Zines marked "No Circulation" are for on-site reference only, and may not be sponsored or borrowed.
- Zines are shipped priority mail insured, or UPS, which ever is more cost-effective. (Zines never leave the library uninsured.)
- The Library does not circulate during the months of May and December, but is open for all other business.
- Zines are mailed once-monthly, on the 20th . All requests received in the prior month will be shipped on the 20th. If the 20th falls on Saturday, the zines will be shipped on Friday. If it falls on Sunday, the zines will be shipped on Monday.
- Zines must be received back in the library 40 days from the date sent, or a late fee of five cents per day will be charged until the zine is returned.
- Zines may be returned by any method a client prefers (US mail, UPS, or other), a long as they get back safely, and on time. Remember: clients are responsible for lost, damaged or uninsured zines, so insure!
Anticipating services like NetFlix, The Fanzine Library offered users "Single-Request Accounts" ("for the new or occasional user") and Long Term Deposit Accounts ("for the more active user"). Under the Single-Request plan, you could only borrow one zine at a time; with a LTD, you opened an account with a deposit of $50 and you could start a request list of at least 8 zines in order of preference. You could then get two zines at a time and slowly draw down on your account (there were charges for shipping, as well as a small rental fee.)
Pdfs listing all the zines once listed on the Fanzine Archives site can be found here: A - Z Listing of Zines, Star Trek Zines, Star Wars Zines, Miscellaneous Zines.
A New Home with the Fan Culture Preservation Project
As of August 2008, the Fanzine Archives was closed due to Ming's health. Ming asked fans to help her find a permanent home for the 3,000 plus zines she carefully accumulated and indexed. [2]
In early 2009, the Open Doors committee of the Organization for Transformative Works helped to place the Fanzine Archives with the Special Collections department of the University of Iowa Libraries as part of their Fan Culture Preservation Project. Sixty-two boxes of zines were transferred to the University and were cataloged during that summer.
The Finding Aid for the Ming's zines at the University of Iowa.
References
- ↑ Fanzine Archives Header
- ↑ "Note: As of August 2008, the Fanzine Archives is closed due to health constraints of the Librarian. Thank you to all the fans whose creativity, effort and inspiration have made this project possible over the years. We are considering passing the library on to a new librarian, if we could find someone with the capacity to store the vast collection of zines, and the willingness to distribute them freely as a service to all fans. If you think you are this person, please send a real, paper letter to Ming Wathne" Closing note, August 2008.
