The FANAC Fan History Project is devoted to the preservation and distribution of information about science fiction and science fiction fandom. Our three websites each take a different perspective on the goal.
FANAC.ORGis for original fan materials. On this website, you might find copies of your favorite old fanzine, pictures of Walt Willis playing Ghoodminton in Ireland or Harlan Ellison by the pool at the convention that inspired the writing of the filk song "Bouncing Potatoes", and the lyrics to the song as well. You'll find original fan articles, histories, and references about fandom. We catalog and provide access to material from Worldcons and other conventions, fanzines, clubs, photos, fannish references, Fan Funds, and just about anything else relate to science fiction fandom and its past. You can find information about today's fandom too, because that's tomorrow's past. We are the archive of fandom.
FANCYCLOPEDIA.ORG is where you can find articles and interpretation about all aspects of SF fandom: people, places, things, events, honors and awards, conventions, slogans, clubs and most of the etceteras that occur to you. Fancyclopedia 3 is a collective enterprise of all of fandom. Based on the previous works by Jack Speer (Fanyclopedia 1), and Dick Eney (Fancyclopedia 2), it is written by fans who want to contribute. You will find material on topics as far ranging as the Cosmic Circle of the 1930s to the Sad Puppies of 2014. It is a "Wikipedia for Fandom".
Youtube.com/c/fanacfanhistory, our YouTube channel, preserves video and illustrated audio records of science fiction and fandom. You'll find a recording of pulp writers discussing how it was to work with H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, video of Gary Kurtz and Mark Hamill talking about Star Wars before its release,reminiscences about the fan scene of the 70s in Minneapolis and more. These recordings add another dimension to understanding and appreciating the science fiction and fandom of the past.
All these efforts are community based, with information, scans and original materials having being provided by more than 500 contributors to date. If you are part of the science fiction community, you can (and should!) join them.
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The FANAC Fan History Project is sponsored by the Florida Association for Nucleation and Conventions (F.A.N.A.C.), Inc. which was the organization behind MagiCon, the 50th World Science Fiction Convention in Orlando, Florida in 1992. FANAC was organized in 1987 to bid for and run the 50th Worldcon. The Fan History Project has been running for over 25 years, since 1994. The FANAC.ORG website was started in 1996, Fancyclopedia.org in 2010, and the YouTube channel in 2016. F.A.N.A.C Inc. is a non-profit organization approved by the IRS under section 501(c)3.
Updated February 14, 2023