Jack Speer
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| Fan | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Jack Speer |
| Alias(es): | John A. Bristol |
| Type: | Fan, historian |
| Fandoms: | Science Fiction |
| Communities: | |
| Other: | |
| URL: | |
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Jack Speer was a prominent member of early science fiction fandom, and later a fandom historian who authored Up to Now, as well as the first Fancyclopedia under the name John Bristol.
About
In the 1930s and early 1940s, he corresponded with Robert A. W. Lowndes extensively on the subject of Michelism/Futurianism. While they eventually reached a concord on the subject, Lowndes would later issue an open letter in 1944 to members of the FAPA, begging them to pass an article restricting expressions of racism in their mailings. He admitted that the article was more or less targeted directly at Speer:
Some members seem to feel that this racist plank is directed against Jack Speer, who has been outspoken in racial attacks upon Negroes. That is true only to a limited degree -- since Jack does make such attacks, this article would affect him. But it does not single brother Speer out, for, if passed, it would be applicable to all.Lowndes in An Open Letter to All Members of the Fantasy Amateur Press Association, October 1944
Speer was present at the first Worldcon in 1939, in which a long-term feud between New Fandom and the Futurians came to a head. (See The Great Exclusion Act.) While he wasn't an eyewitness to the incident, Speer authored a fannish history called Up to Now describing the situation and later summarized the feud for the first Fancyclopedia. Several Futurians disputed the details of his version.