On Thursday, December 1, 2016, Prof. Jill Belli held an ENG 2420, Science Fiction class session in the Atrium 543 Archives Classroom for a special introduction of the City Tech Science Fiction Collection to her students. Prof. Keith Muchowski coordinated with Prof. Belli to arrange the visit. Prof. Belli’s class is the first to officially visit and use the City Tech Science Fiction Collection as part of a class discussion. Prof. Jason W. Ellis pulled materials from the collection based on student interests for students to use during an in-class exercise, gave an oral history presentation on how the collection came to be at City Tech, and gave several mini-tours of the collection to groups of four students at a time (this permits students to browse the collection without overcrowding in the archive and makes it easy for the tour guide to respond to questions and talk with the students). One of Prof. Belli’s students exclaimed, “This is a MAGAZINE??!!” Students were able to hold, read, and discuss the magazines with one another. Prof. Belli and Prof. Ellis responded to their questions about the different magazines in the collection, issues with publication and preservation, the magazines’ contents (stories, editorials, letters, advertisements), and the magazines’ smells. When class was over, no one seemed to want to leave!
