Conrad H. Ruppert

Fan
Name:	Conrad H. Ruppert
Alias(es):	"Connie" Ruppert
Type:	zine editor, zine publisher, sci-fi journalist, convention con comm member, tribber, photographer
Fandoms:	science fiction
Communities:	First Fandom club; Science Correspondence Club
Other:
URL:	Fancyclopedia 3; ISFDB
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Conrad H. Ruppert (November 12, 1912 – August 26, 1997) was a pioneer of early zine fandom, printing and editing some of the earliest science fiction zines. Active in fandom from the 1920s-1930s, he gafiated after attending NYCon I when he was drafted. He returned to fandom in 1992, attending the 50th Worldcon and reconnecting with other members of the First Fandom club, before his death in 1997 at the age of 84.

Fan History

Ruppert became interested in science fiction as a child during an illness which confined him to bed. He read and contributed articles to Hugo Gernsback's Science and Invention magazine and began corresponding with other fans he "met" through the letters columns of various sci-fic magazines (including Amazing Stories). He joined the Science Correspondence Club in 1928 and in 1930 received second place in the Gernsback prize for contributions to SF. But it was in 1932, having purchased a small hand press with the earnings from working in a bakery, that he began printing science fiction stories as well as a number of early fanzines including The Time Traveller, The Fantasy Fan and Science Fiction Digest. The latter he co-founded with Mort Weisinger and Julius Schwartz and he served as editor from April to December of 1933.

The arrival in New York of Conrad H. Ruppert, a young printer from Angola, Indiana, who enjoyed the enviable distinction of having won a $50 second prize in the “What I Have Done to Spread Science Fiction” contest with his suggestion of “Science Fiction Week,” offered an opportunity to broaden The Time Traveler’s horizons. He agreed to set up in type and print the periodical for nothing more than the cost of paper. This offer he implemented with action, and the March, 1932, issue was turned out on a printing press. Weisinger saw other potentialities in the printing press. Taking the best of his handwritten manuscripts, The Price of Peace, he sneaked into his father’s factory after hours and used an office typewriter to put it into proper form for submission. He gained moral support from Dr. Robert B. Dow, a professor of English at New York University, who made some minor corrections and suggested that the story might be salable. He had been anticipated. When Ruppert, as Solar Publi­cations, turned the first of a series of pamphlets off the press, the title read The Cavemen of Venus by Allen Glasser. Weisinger’s The Price of Peace followed it a few months later.

 

Between 1932-1935, Ruppert continued to participate in fandom, printing and writing for zines and hosting gatherings at his house. He also attended meetings of the International Scientific Association, where he met writers Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Robert A. Heinlein. In 1935 he printed Cosmos, a round robin story which had been published from July 1933-Dec 1934 in the Science Fiction Digest; in 1936 he printed, at cost, the memorial book for Stanley G. Weinbaum; and in 1939 the souvenir program book for the first World Science Fiction Convention. He also became interested in photography around 1939-1940, and later in life would put on exhibitions and shows of his work.

The outbreak of World War II and his subsequent drafting pulled Ruppert away from fandom, and upon his discharge in 1943 he focussed his energies on raising his family and fell out of touch with his fannish friends. However, in 1992 he attended MagiCon and reconnected with old friends Julius Schwartz, Forrest J Ackerman, Sam Moskowitz, and others. This rejuvenated his interest in fandom, and for the next five years he renewed his written correspondence with long-time friends, assembled a set of his early publications, and began going to conventions and attending First Fandom reunions.

Following his death in 1997, he was awarded the 2023 First Fandom Hall of Fame Award in recognition of his contributions to the fandom.

Conrad H. Ruppert was an early STF fan, a card-carrying reporter for Gernsback’s Science and Invention magazine (1924-25), a printer, and a pioneering science fiction journalist. He will likely best be remembered as the person who painstakingly set the type by hand for many of the earliest and finest fanzines such as The Time Traveller, Science Fiction Digest, Fantasy Magazine, The Fantasy Fan, and later, The Weinbaum Memorial Volume (1938) and The Souvenir Journal of the World Science Fiction Convention (1939). The professional appearance of Ruppert’s typeset publications set the highest standard for other fan printers and helped to legitimize the idea of fans publishing science fiction. He won a cash prize from Gernsback in an early contest that promoted science fiction. Ruppert was also a life-long photographer who stood outside the entrance to the first Worldcon on July 2, 1939, and made pictures of the big-name fans and pros as they arrived. Three dozen of Ruppert’s photos that he made at the 1939 New York World’s Fair are part of the Smithsonian Museum’s Collection. It is due to Ruppert’s tireless efforts as science fiction’s preeminent printer during a critical time in early fandom history that he is still remembered and highly-regarded today.

 

Fanac

Writer

• Letter (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Fall 1930): Science Fiction Week—Every Week! [1930]
• Letter (Weird Tales, March 1930) [1930]
• Letter (Science Wonder Quarterly, Spring 1930): [1930]
• Letter: "Starting Science Fiction Week" (prize winner) (Astounding Stories of Super-Science, April 1930) [1930]
• Letter: "To the Readers of Astounding Stories" (Astounding Stories of Super-Science, April 1930) [1930]
• Letter: "Are You Baffled by Edmond Hamilton?" (Amazing Detective Tales, June 1930) [1930]
• Article: "Who Is Anthony Gilmore?" (Science Fiction Digest, September 1932) [1932]
• Fiction: "Tosnoop's Trying Task" (Science Fiction Digest, September 1932, October 1932) [1932]
• Fiction: "The Wisdom Eye" (Science Fiction Digest, September 1932) [1932]
• Fiction: "A Short Tarzan Title Tale" (Science Fiction Digest, November 1932) [1932]
• Fiction: "The Vikings in Pellucidar" (Science Fiction Digest, November 1932) [1932]
• Interview: "Titans of Science Fiction: Hugo Gernsback" (Science Fiction Digest, December 1932) [1932]
• Article: "Religion and Science" (Science Fiction Digest, May 1933) [1933]
• Article: "Man's Quest for Immortality" (Science Fiction Digest, July 1933) [1933]
• Letter (The Fantasy Fan, September 1933) [1933]
• Letter: "Concise Comments" (Weird Tales, September 1938) [1938]
• Biography: "Science Fiction Journalist" (from a 1992 interview), Stories from the First Fandom Archives August 2012 [2012]

Editor

• Science Fiction Digest [1933]
• Fantasy Magazine [1933-1934]

Publisher

• The Cavemen of Venus by Allen Glasser (chapbook, as Solar Publications with Julius Schwartz) [1932]
• The Price of Peace by Mortimer Weinsinger (chapbook, as Solar Publications with Julius Schwartz) [1932]
• Thru the Dragon Glass by A. Merritt (chapbook, as ARRA Publishers with Donald Alexander) [1932]
• The Time Traveller [March 1932-November 1933]
• Science Fiction Digest [1932-1933]
• Fantasy Magazine [1933-1934]
• Cosmology - final issue [1933]
• Wolf Hollow Bubbles by David H. Keller (chapbook, as ARRA Publishers with Donald Alexander) [1934]
• Cosmos serial novel by various [1935]
• Dawn of Flame and Other Stories by Stanley G. Weinbaum (The Weinbaum Memorial Volume) [1936]
• Roads by Seabury Quinn (printed for private distribution in an edition of less than 100 copies) [1938]
• The Souvenir Journal of the World Science Fiction Convention [1939]

Other

• Second Eastern States Science Fiction Convention - attendee [1937]
• Fourth Eastern Science Fiction Convention - attendee [1938]
• NYCon I - photographer and committee member [1939]

Awards

Gernsback prize for contributions to SF

• 1930 - “What I Have Done to Spread Science Fiction” - second place for suggesting "Science Fiction Week" to several newspapers who printed editorials in response.

Raymond Z. Gallun Award

• 1994 - for "outstanding contributions in the genre of science fiction" - awarded at ICON

First Fandom Hall of Fame Award

• 2023 - awarded at Worldcon

Interviews/Profiles

• "Famous Fantasy Fans, 2: Conrad H. Ruppert", The Fantasy Fan, vol 1, no. 3, November 1933. [1933]
• "Celebrities I've Met" by Mortimer Weisinger, The Fantasy Fan, vol 1, no. 9, May 1934 [1934]

CELEBRITIES I'VE MET by Mortimer Weisinger

Henry J. Kostkos, who permits his charming wife to okay his stories, and if the yarn is mediocre, it's "Quick, Henry, the Flit."

Frank R. Paul, who, when asked to be interviewed, modestly answered: "There's not much about me to interview."

Conrad H. Ruppert, whose favorite expression, "Shut up, Weisinger," became a threat to have my scalp when I promised to mention him here. And he claims he isn't modest. Goodbye scalp, maybe I can do without it.

 

• "Conrad H. Ruppert, Printer" by David Ritter, The Cosmos Project (via Wayback Aug 23/24)
• "Conrad H. Ruppert: Science Fiction Journalist" by John L. Coker III, The Cosmos Project (2015) (via Wayback Mar 29/23)

External Links

• "In 1939, Lithography Came To Fanzines — But Why?" by David Ritter, First Fandom Experience, January 23, 2020 (via Wayback Aug 26/24)
• "Conrad H. Ruppert – Obituary" by John L. Coker III, The Cosmos Project (via Wayback Marc 29/23)
• "Obituaries", First Fandom Foundation (via Wayback Mar 7/25)
• Find A Grave