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MEDIA FAN ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

 Series

  • Staff Only
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Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

This collection consists of numerous science fiction and other media fanzines collected by longtime fan writer, editor and vidder Morgan Dawn. The fanzines and fanvids in the collection describe a number of different media fandoms.



Most of the items are pieces of fan fiction. Fan fiction is defined as stories, novellas, novels, or poems written by fans about the characters, situations or general universe of the original work. Much of the fan fiction is of the "slash" variety. "Slash" refers to fan fiction that is sexually explicit, and same-sex in nature. In slash sex and sexuality are often the centers of the story, rather than the more conventional adventures featured in more traditional fan fiction.



The collection also contains some additional fan-related items, including some original cover art, materials from fan conventions, and other items of fan interest.



Note: Several of the zines in this collection are defined as "custom zines". These are special zines consisting of stories and artwork that Dawn or other fans assembled/edited into a print publication for specific purposes (i.e. as personal gifts or as loans for fans to read during conventions). In many cases, the contents of these zines may no longer exist online, making the custom zines the only remaining source of the stories and art contained therein. The custom zines in this collection are identified by the code 'CZ'.



While the majority of the items in this collection are items that Dawn actively sought out and acquired, many were deposited with her by other fans. Dawn pays tribute to these fans by commenting "I owe my collection to the many women who were happy to have me hold their zines and fan fiction until I could find them a forever home."



Unique to this collection is the Media Fan Oral History Project. This ongoing project began with interviews conducted at the Escapade convention in February of 2012, first donated as part of the Spring 2014 Addendum. Interviews are available at the Iowa Digital Library.

Dates

  • Creation: 1964-2014

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research. This collection is stored at an off-site location, please allow two-three business days for retrieval.

Extent

From the Collection: 44.00 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Repository Details

Part of the University of Iowa Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City IA 52242 IaU
319-335-5921
319-335-5900 (Fax)