Operation 'Zine Rescue

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See also:	fanzines
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In 1996, Bill Hupe, the largest fanzine dealer and agent in North America, retired and handed over his inventory to Peg Kennedy.

Peg carried on for several years. However by 1999, the business had fallen into disarray.

In January 1999, several fanzine publishers received a letter from a man who had purchased the contents of one of the Hupe-Kennedy storage lockers and was offering to sell the zines back to the publishers. The inventory included both gen and slash zines, numbering over 3000 items. In addition, almost 1200 art prints were in the collection, including work by Rich Corben, Adrian Morgan, Jean Kluge, Heather Bruton, Suzan Lovett, Lucy Synk, Melissa Elliott, ARLA, Tara and Carol Walske.

The initial monetary request for the storage locker was $3000 (not including the slash zines) and several fans mounted a rescue effort. Funding came from Laurie C-F, and she along with Celeste Hotaling-Lyons recruited and organized volunteers to conduct an inventory. Seah volunteered to set up a rescue page at her website fanzines.com and to help push the message out to mailing lists. By May 1999, volunteers had cataloged around 75% of the collection and an inventory list was posted online.

From the 1999 MediaWest*Con program book:

'Zine Rescue! 'ZINES HAVE BEEN RESCUED! Some of you may have sent 'zines for agenting to Peg Kennedy which were never accounted for. A storage locker containing many of these 'zines and artwork was seized for non-payment of rent and sold by auction by the storage facility. The contents of the locker was subsequently purchased for $3,000 and Operation 'Zine Rescue was born. The goal: to return as many 'zines and as much artwork as possible back to their original owners. Laurie Fenster, the coordinator of 'Zine Rescue, will be here at MW*C this weekend to answer any questions you may have about the 'Zine Rescue project. She will have the most up-to-date listing of the recovered inventory, so you can check and see if your 'zines are among those that have been recovered and discuss arrangements for their return or disposal. (If you want your 'zines returned, you will be asked to pay shipping costs, or make other arrangements.) For more information, check the flyers around the hotel or contact Laurie Fenster at her hotel room.

Some fans were glad to have some inventory returned to them, some were happy to know that the zines would go back into fans' hands, and others were glad to have them "safely disposed" of so the zines and art didn't fall into wrong hands.

Text of the Letter: Sent by the Storage Locker Owner

The letter was sent to a number of fanzine publishers. The buyer of the storage locker, a guy named Jerry, used the addresses he found printed in the fanzines.

The letter:

Because of your interest in science fiction, I am writing to you with a potentially profitable business proposition for yourself. Please give this letter your careful consideration.

In a circuitous manner, a business associate and I are now the owners of a large collection of science fiction texts, fanzines, newsletters, novels and numbered art prints. The collection was part of the inventory maintained by Bill Hupe and Peg Kennedy, whom I believe you knew as distributors and publishers of science fiction materials, both via mail and at science fiction conventions.

The attached sheet provides a partial summary of the contents and the advertised value of the collection. Our original intent was to break the collection up and sell it in small sets via the Internet. However, since marketisng a science fiction collection is neither my interest nor forte (i.e., I am a sports card collector), I am contacting you and other known science fiction distributors to locate someone who has an interest in purchasing the collection outright and then marketing the materials themselves at a greater profit, either through existing marketing channels, a special web page, or at science fiction conventions.

The materials are currently in storage and I would like to move them quite rapidly. Thus, I am asking for the amount of $3,000, which is less than 10% of the assessed value of the complete collection. In turn, I am open to either reasonable counteroffers or requests to purchase subsets of the collection.

If you have an interest in obtaining this collection or have additional questions, please contact me. I can be reached by mail [address redacted] or by phone in the evenings. [number redacted]

I look forward to hearing from you.....

A Fanzine Publisher's Response to the Storage Locker Letter

"I called [him] as soon as I received this letter. (To my surprise, I found out I am the first person he has spoken with.)

[He] explained that an acquaintance of his had purchased the contents of a mini-storage locker at auction, and knowing him to be a dealer in sports card collectibles, resold the collection to him and an associate.

He is also in possession of several boxes of zine masters.

He also stated he put all the "pornography" aside and did not include it in his list.

He has 3511 fanzines in stock, plus 1199 art prints from Rich Corben, Adrian Morgan, Jean Kluge, Heather Bruton, Suzan Lovett, Lucy Synk, Melissa Elliott, ARLA, Tara and C. Walske.

Now, I would definitely like to get my fanzines back, and I'm sure other zine editors and artists would like to get their work back, as well."