In August 2019, a curious— in fact, an amazing—thing happened at the 77th World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin, Ireland. The Hugo Award—one of the preeminent literary awards for science fiction and fantasy works— in the category of ‘Best Related Work’ went not to a traditional biography or genre history or memoir, but instead to a digital repository.

That’s why I do this work. At my institution, Cushing Memorial Library & Archives at Texas A&M University, I’ve undertaken  a major effort to collect media fanworks of all kinds.  I do it because fanworks are amazing examples of creative expression that let people of all diversities to produce stories in the media universes they love and that hold great meaning for them. The story of science fiction and fantasy, of course, lives above all in the actual works themselves – the novels, stories, films, television shows, comic books, and so on – but it is forever incomplete unless we also preserve the responses and reactions to and revisions or continuations of these works by the audiences that receive them. 

I’m proud of our fanwork collections, too! At time of writing, we have 17 collections devoted specifically to fanworks of various kinds, and many other  SF&F collections that include fanwork components. To give a few examples: a single collection, the Media Fanzine Collection, contains over 100 boxes of fanfic and fanvids recorded on videocassette, DVD, and CD-ROM; another, the Stacy Doyle Collection, has 60 boxes of fanfic, fanvids, and audiocassettes of filk song (a musical genre tied to SF&F fandom). A third is devoted solely to fanworks relating to Klingon fandom (from the Star Trek franchise), and contains numerous examples of lovely fan art. 

So many fandoms are represented here! Most range from the 1960s to the early 2000. Star Trek (in all its iterations), Star Wars, Doctor Who, Blake’s 7, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Starsky & Hutch, The Professionals, The X-Files, Quantum Leap, Beauty and the Beast, Buffy The Vampire Slayer… such rich universes, and such a wonderful variety of stories, are chronicled here for the enjoyment and scholarly study of our patrons. It can be a little dizzying, actually, to consider how many people put so much  of their time and enthusiasm into producing stories and art from their hearts.

One of the stacks holding the Science Fiction & Fantasy Research Collection, Cushing Library

I’m also gratified for another reason. Texas A&M University has a reputation (not wholly deserved, but…) as a socially conservative institution. So I find it all the more delicious that our collections hold what I believe is likely the world’s largest collection of print slash fiction.  Slash fiction, or slash, is a category of fanfic depicting same-sex relationships between two or more media characters, usually male. Slash has been a traditionally popular creative outlet for writers of fanfiction, particularly female fans.

Just a few of the fanvids on DVD in the Stacy Doyle collection

Two homemade Klingon weapons, from the Star Trek Klingon Fandom Collection, Cushing Library

A sampling of filksong in the Stacy Doyle collection – albums, audiocassettes and songbooks

Archiving fanworks can present several challenges, and any archivist who works with fan materials will have to consider the following, to name a few:

Building relationships. Establishing and maintaining cordial relations with fans (as one does with any donor community, of course). Fans should be approached on their own ground: conventions (cons), club meetings, fannish websites and listservs, and so on. Many of the donations to our collections were a direct result of my having attended various cons and spread the word about my library.

Maintaining privacy. Many fanworks were or are created by fans using one or even multiple  aliases. Some may do this because they want to express themselves through constructed fannish personas that reflect their fannish lives. Others do so to maintain anonymity because of their sexual orientation or other identifying factors. Fannish privacy and anonymity need to be preserved in any collection description, not just to preserve the creative context but to maintain trust with donors both actual and potential. As I have said elsewhere, fannish identities can be fluid. An archivist of fanworks should understand this and make sure that description reflects that fluidity.

Copyright and fair use. Media fanworks such as fanvids often incorporate images and film snippets, which can raise copyright issues with the original media creators. How that source material is accessed and otherwise used both within and without your institution can have real legal consequences. An archivist should consider these issues before acquiring fanworks of these kinds, and certainly before digitizing them and providing online access.

A reprint of Spockanalia #1, the first fanzine devoted to Star Trek, originally published in 1967.

None of these issues should be obstacles, though, to an archivist who develops an interest in collecting fanworks. I’ve found it to be one of the most rewarding activities in my archival career. Through this effort, I’ve met so many wonderful, dedicated artists and authors and felt their love for the media universes that touch them. I’ve built a colorful and fascinating set of collections that together document the ways in which people interact, unite, and define themselves through the lens of popular culture. I’ve helped, in my own very small way, to give a safe and permanent harbor to a wide chorus of different voices. What better task is there for an archivist?

Jeremy Brett is Curator of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection at Cushing Memorial Library & Archives, Texas A&M University.