There and Back Again

Fan Club
Name:	There and Back Again (Nimoy Nest)
Dates:	1967-?
Founder(s):	Elizabeth Sheridan
Leadership:	Mary Kissel (until 1972), then Denny Arnold and Richard Arnold
Country based in:	Massachusetts, US
Focus:	Tolkien & Star Trek: TOS, later Mission: Impossible
External Links:
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There and Back Again was a fan club somewhat unique to its time, combining several fandoms. It published the zine Bags End Gazette.

What's the next best thing to reading The Hobbit? Being a citizen of the Shire, of course. How do you do that? By joining TABA, a fan club for Leonard Nimoy run completely by Hobbits from Middle Earth [sic]. Interested? If so, write to Bilbo (yep! He runs it.)

This fan club was a chapter of the LNNAF.

An August 1968 Mention

The ninth issue of Chatter Boxes reported that the club was running a contest to give Mr. Spock a good middle name, conducting write ins to NBC over the ST time-slot change and was planning a UNICEF bake sale.

An August 1970 Mention

We all admire and respect Leonard Nimoy! The "TABA" - There and Back Again, affiliated with the LNAF, extends to all of you a cordial invitation to come join with us to honor Mr. Nimoy in all his achievements. We believe that our club has something to offer and encourage all interested Leonard Nimoy fans to contact us. We will do our best to deliver interesting and fun publications. Follow the world of Tolkien, Paris, Spock, and most of all, Leonard Nimoy through TABA.

A March 1973 Mention

Spockulations #4 (1974) reprinted the Mission Impossible story starring Tom Paris in that issue. It is titled "Double Devotion."

Some History and Association with LNAF

From Sam Cole in 1970:

Miss Betty Ann Sheridan read the book "The Hobbit" after Leonard Nimoy recorded "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins." She decided she wanted a club for Leonard Nimoy but with an unusual twist. He liked hobbits, so Betty Ann became a hobbit and named her club "There and Back Again." As Bilbo Baggins living in the Bags End of the Middle-Earth, we had Bilbo's reactions to Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock, and Paris. Her chapter is one of the oldest still in existence. As an "extension" of the LNAF, she received all the privileges given by being an Official Chapter... Her chapter is made up almost entirely of LNAF members. They are from all parts of the country. Betty Ann works very hard for Leonard Nimoy and sees to it that as interesting the roles he portrays may be, the club is for Leonard Nimoy. Since this is her prime concern, where else would her club be but as an Official Chapter of the LNAF.

Association with "The Nest Egg"

This newsletter had a close association with the Leonard Nimoy fan club The Nimoy Nest and its newsletter, The Nest Egg.

From the May 1972 issue of "The Nest Egg":

Another change. Now that Mary Kissel is a full time mother, she is finding it difficult to manage both TABA and baby Cathy. Since TABA is one of the oldest chapters of the LNAF we want to keep it going, so the Nest is going to assist. This is no problem since almost all of the Nestlings are also TABA members. The Nestlings will make their home in a Hobbit hole from now on! Sam Cole, bless her boots, mesmerized the Arnolds into taking over the editorial work of the TABA publications as we live close enough to Mary to visit and confer. This means that two sets of publications would be coming from the St. Louis office, so that in [the] future the Nest Eggs and the TABA publications will be combined under one cover to save on postage and wear and tear on the editors. There will be no change in the executive of TABA, merely the addition of a slew of Arnolds and a mimeo.

[...]

REMEMBER, your next issue the Nest Egg will be combined with a TABA publication, and will appear in August or September [1972], depending on the weather, and various other things.