Science Fiction Fandom Photos

December 20, 2018 9:47 AM

In the 1960's and 1970's, Jay Kay Klein photographed the goings on at science fiction conventions. The photographs are now online at Calisphere, an online consortium of California universities. These photos document events such as Discon 1, BayCon, and other events. There's shots of parties, dealer rooms, stacks of pulps, boxes of comic books and art shows. Also some famous faces like Anne McCaffrey, Gregory Benford, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Alicia Austin, Isaac Asimov, and Forry Ackerman. If you're into this sort of thing, be prepared to spend some time here.
posted by marxchivist (14 comments total)

Some day someone is going to spill the beans on the secret link between optometry and science "fiction".

It's a They Live thing isn't it?
posted by gusottertrout at 10:15 AM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

Very cool!
posted by larrybob at 10:15 AM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

Aaaaand the first up party pic has... yes take a beat, Naked Dude being "admired" by some groupies.

(sorry, 'groupie' is probably not correct fandom terminology, do not do fan, but have read a bit and oh my)
posted by sammyo at 10:29 AM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

The second pic makes it clear he's wearing some manner of shorts (which may or may not be streetwear - the 70s were weird) so he's really just shirtless. I very much doubt that those were groupies, rather than just people who were accustomed to hippies.
posted by restless_nomad at 10:42 AM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

This is fabulous!!! I looked up Yarbro, who's a friend, and wouldn't have recognized her, she's changed so much in the intervening years, whereas McCaffrey looks just the same then as she did much later. I found, after some dithering around, a pic of Yarbro, Bloch, and Ackerman; she remained good friend with Bloch for the rest of his life. Thanks so much for posting this.
posted by MovableBookLady at 11:21 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

Cool! Too bad they're not in color.
posted by Liquidwolf at 11:26 AM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

The pictures of the dealer rooms are really making the rounds in the comic book groups on Facebook, that's where I heard about this collection. Everyone's freaking out about the low-priced comic books in stacks without mylar bags and bemoaning their lack of time machines.
posted by marxchivist at 11:30 AM on December 20, 2018

MeFi: If you're into this sort of thing, be prepared to spend some time here.
posted by fairmettle at 11:32 AM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

This is neat, but....seeing names like Ackerman and Asimov, I just keep thinking #MeToo.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:06 PM on December 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

Susan Wood spotted in the first party pic!
posted by geeklizzard at 1:08 PM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is neat, but....seeing names like Ackerman and Asimov, I just keep thinking #MeToo.

Yeah. I suddenly lost interest when I saw a pic of Asimov standing behind a woman.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:17 PM on December 20, 2018

I messaged Samuel Delany about a photo labeled as being of him and he says it's not him. There is a way to report suggested updates, though.
posted by larrybob at 1:29 PM on December 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

I once saw Klein at the Nebulas (Google tells me 1988, which feels right). Jay used a kind of metal harness to have not one, but two Leicas at the ready. If nothing else, he was very devoted.

That was also the year that featured a panel where John Shirley got so worked up Norman Spinrad was the voice of reason, and Jerry Pournelle couldn't get a word in edgewise.

Fun times.
posted by aurelian at 5:15 PM on December 20, 2018 [4 favorites]

Say what you will about the rest of the collection, I'm here for this Spock from 1966.
posted by radwolf76 at 11:04 AM on December 23, 2018 [1 favorite]