Category Archives: science-fiction-collection

City Tech Science Fiction Collection Inventory Continues

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Jason Ellis, Lavelle Porter, and Jessica Roman

L to R: Jason Ellis, Lavelle Porter, and Jessica Roman

From July 9 to July 11, City Tech faculty and students continued to inventory the City Tech Science Fiction Collection. Over the last two years, we inventoried the 4000+ magazines and 1700 monographs and anthologies. This year’s goal is to complete the finding aid database with the remaining scholarly journals and novels.

On July 9, Prof. Jason Ellis spent three hours in the archives and an hour at home entering information into the collection’s finding aid for all of the scholarly journals.

Prof. Laura Westengard

Laura Westengard

On July 10, Profs. Laura Westengard and Jason Ellis cataloged almost 300 novels over three hours.

Lavelle Porter and Julia Roman

L to R: Lavelle Porter and Jessica Roman

On July 11, Profs. Lavelle Porter, Lucas Kwong, and Jason Ellis, and City Tech student Jessica Roman cataloged about 350 novels over four hours.

Lucas Kwong

Lucas Kwong

Over these three days, we accomplished an inventory of two-and-a-half bookcases, which leaves eleven-and-a-half bookcases to inventory.

Philip K. Dick Books Now in the City Tech Science Fiction Collection

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Hounion and Muchowski

Library Professors Morris Hounion and Keith Muchowski (pictured above, l to r) cleared an entire shelving unit (no small feat considering the college’s archival holdings) for the approximately twelve boxes of unshelved materials from the original donation and English Professor Aaron Barlow’s recent Philip K. Dick book donation. I filled several shelves with the PKD books (pictured below), which leaves three-and-a-half shelves available for boxed materials.

PKD books

Prof. Aaron Barlow Donates Philip K. Dick Books to the City Tech Science Fiction Collection

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Barlow

Prof. Aaron Barlow donated a considerable collection of Philip K. Dick novels, anthologies, and scholarship to the City Tech Science Fiction Collection on 22 March 2018.

At a glance, the 124-item donation includes all of Dick’s Science Fiction and posthumously published mainstream fiction. Additionally, the donation includes a lot of PKD research and criticism.

Some of the standout items donated include:

  • Philip K. Dick’s Underwood Miller 5-Volume, Boxed Set of Collected Short Stories (Vol. 1, Beyond Lies the Wub; Vol. 2, Second Variety; Vol. 3, The Father-Thing; Vol. 4, The Days of Perky Pat; and Vol. 5, The Little Black Box)
  • Philip K. Dick’s Gregg Press Publications (Eye in the Sky, Vulcan’s Hammer, The Zap Gun, The World Jones Made, and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch)
  • Philip K. Dick’s Gollancz Edition of Galactic Pot-Healer
  • Philip K. Dick’s Ziesing Edition of The Dark Haired Girl
  • Lawrence Sutin’s In Pursuit of VALIS: Selections from the Exegesis
  • Gregg Rickman’s To the High Castle: Philip K. Dick, A Life 1928-1962
  • Gregg Rickman’s Philip K. Dick In His Own Words
  • Gregg Rickman’s Philip K. Dick: The Last Testament
  • Paul William’s Only Apparently Real
  • Patricia Warrick’s Mind in Motion: The Fiction of Philip K. Dick
  • Patricia Warrick and Martin Greenberg’s Robots, Androids, and Mechanical Oddieis: The Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick

Videos of 2nd Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium

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Below are videos of the presentations made at the 2nd Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium on Extrapolation, Interdisciplinarity, and Learning held on Dec. 6, 2017. They are included in the order from the program with the last video being the very special keynote address by Samuel R. Delany. If you’d like to watch all these as a playlist on YouTube, follow this link.

City Tech Library Exhibits on Science Fiction, Interdisciplinarity, and Samuel R. Delany

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Library exhibits on Samuel R. Delany and the 2nd Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium.

LIbrary display on the City Tech Science Fiction Collection.

Prof. Jason W. Ellis installed three window displays in the entrance to City Tech’s Ursula C. Schwerin Library, where the City Tech Science Fiction Collection is housed. When entering the library, on the right are two displays: the first is on the upcoming 2nd Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium on Extrapolation, Interdisciplinarity, and Learning, and the second is an Author Spotlight on Samuel R. Delany, this year’s keynote speaker for the symposium. On the left side, adjacent to the circulation desk, is a display on the City Tech Science Fiction Symposium. In addition to designing posters for these displays and showing magazine covers from the collection, each exhibit has artifacts from the collection. Samuel R. Delany’s exhibit features magazines in which his fiction appears. These exhibits will be up until January 2018.

Jill Belli’s ENG 2420 Science Fiction Class Visit to the City Tech Science Fiction Collection

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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!

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Video Tour of the City Tech Science Fiction Collection

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On Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, Prof. Jason Ellis recorded video footage of the archival space that houses the City Tech Science Fiction Collection. Over the following weekend, he wrote a script describing the video footage, and recorded a voice over for the video footage based on the script. Using Apple’s iMovie, he added titles to the video footage and uploaded the rendered video file to YouTube. You can watch the video embedded below.

CUNY Graduate Center Digital Initiatives Visit to the City Tech Science Fiction Collection

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L to R: Lisa Rhody, Patrick Corbett, and Matt Gold.

L to R: Lisa Rhody, Patrick Corbett, and Matt Gold.

On Thursday, December 8, Dr. Lisa Rhody, Deputy Director of Digital Initiatives at the CUNY Graduate Center, and Dr. Matt Gold, Associate Professor of English and Digital Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center, visited City Tech to find out about its digital initiatives and related projects, including OpenLab, Serious Change Through Play, and the City Tech Science Fiction Collection.

Prof. Jason Ellis met them and Prof. Patrick Corbett at the City Tech Library to show them the current City Tech Science Fiction Collection exhibit and to give them a tour of the collection in the library’s archives. They discussed strategies for using the collection and opportunities for its further development.

Browsing the Collection. L to R: Patrick Corbett, Lisa Rhody, and Matt Gold.

Browsing the Collection. L to R: Patrick Corbett, Lisa Rhody, and Matt Gold.

Symposium on Amazing Stories was a Great Success!

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Student Roundtable Session. Photo by Jason Ellis.

Student Roundtable Session. Photo by Jason Ellis.

On Tuesday, November 29, over 70 attendees and presenters gathered at City Tech to celebrate the new City Tech Science Fiction Collection and discuss the importance of science fiction as a method for understanding the effect of science and technology on humanity, a pedagogical tool in writing, history, and interdisciplinary learning environments, and a medium for understanding our place in the world, imagining different possible worlds, and conceptualizing new paths forward–including career paths. In addition to presenters from City Tech, there were speakers from City University of New York, Columbia University, Winthrop Group, Yale University, and York College. Very importantly, the City Tech Science Fiction Collection’s initiator and former City Tech professor, Alan Lovegreen flew out from California where he now teaches at Orange Coast College. A roundtable of City Tech students closed out the presentation portion of the symposium, and we ended the day with a presentation on the acquisition of the City Tech Science Fiction Collection and a tour of the archives. It was a full day of conversation, learning, and sharing. Its success points the way toward the next symposium to be held next year. Last but not least, the Symposium on Amazing Stories Organizing Committee–Profs. Jason W. Ellis (chair), Aaron Barlow, Jill Belli, and Mary Nilles wish to thank everyone who took part in the symposium and the many people–administrators, colleagues, and students–who made the event such an enjoyable and meaningful event!

Prof. Jason Ellis welcoming everyone. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

Prof. Jason Ellis welcoming everyone. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

Dean of School of Arts and Sciences Justin Vazquez-Poritz opening the symposium. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

Dean of School of Arts and Sciences Justin Vazquez-Poritz opening the symposium. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

Alan Lovegreen presenting on Hugo Gernsback and air wonder stories. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

Alan Lovegreen presenting on Hugo Gernsback and air wonder stories. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

Grant Wythoff presenting. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

Grant Wythoff presenting. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

Sean Scanlan presenting on William Gibson, Pattern Recognition, and Collecting to a full audience. Photo by Jason Ellis.

Sean Scanlan presenting on William Gibson, Pattern Recognition, and Collecting to a full audience. Photo by Jason Ellis.

R to L: Jason Ellis, Leigh Dara Gold, Johannah Rodgers, and Daniel Phelps. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

R to L: Jason Ellis, Leigh Dara Gold, Johannah Rodgers, and Daniel Phelps. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

L to R: A. Lavelle Porter, Stephen Chambers, and Jill Belli. Photo by Jason W. Ellis.

L to R: A. Lavelle Porter, Stephen Chambers, and Jill Belli. Photo by Jason W. Ellis.

Jill Belli (2nd from left) moderates the student roundtable. Photo by Jason Ellis.

Jill Belli (2nd from left) moderates the student roundtable. Photo by Jason Ellis.

Touring the City Tech Science Fiction Collection. Photo by Jason Ellis.

Touring the City Tech Science Fiction Collection. Photo by Jason Ellis.

Prof. Jason Ellis describing the collection. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

Prof. Jason Ellis describing the collection. Photo by Sean Scanlan.

Library Window Exhibit for the City Tech Science Fiction Collection

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Prof. Jason Ellis installed a magazine cover and science fiction artifact exhibit in the front window space of the City Tech Library. He took photos of magazine covers that related to the historical and current work represented by the schools and departments on campus. Then, he compiled these into large collages (standardizing each cover to be 9.5″ tall), which Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Justin Vazquez-Poritz had printed. Prof. Ellis cut the magazine covers out of the collages, and with the help of masonry guide lines, hung nearly 70 magazine cover prints on the exhibit space wall with pushpins. He created the large poster to the left side of the exhibit to describe the collection. In the front of the exhibit space, Prof. Ellis displayed a historical selection of artifacts–magazines from the collection (Amazing Stories, Astounding, Galaxy, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction) and novels/collections from his personal collection (Shelley’s Frankenstein, Ellison’s Dangerous Visions, Sargent’s Women of Wonder, and Sterling’s Mirrorshades). The exhibit will run from the last week of November 2016 until the end of the semester.