Fall 2024 Special Collections Research Center Exhibition: Destroy All Monsters: Developments in Fandom and Participatory Culture
Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center’s (SCRC) Fall 2024 exhibition, titled Destroy All Monsters: Developments in Fandom and Participatory Culture, opens September 9, 2024 on the 6th floor of Bird Library. Curated by Daniel Sarmiento, Curator of 20th Century to Present, Destroy All Monsters traces the complex history of creative expression and engagement among fan bases in the pre-internet era.
Fans have changed radically over the past century from mere consumers of media to active participants in media creation. Following the emergence of science fiction as a literary genre, fans increasingly sought to connect, not only with texts, but with each other. The founding of fan clubs, emergence of underground publications known as “fanzines,” and the rise of fan conventions within the science fiction community during the first half of the 20th century put fans in direct contact and created forums for discussion, debate and camaraderie that spanned international borders. While the phrase may bring to mind violence for some, Destroy All Monsters seeks to portray not literal but creative acts of destruction and reimagination.
The Special Collections Research Center’s exhibition, Destroy All Monsters: Developments in Fandom and Participatory Culture, highlights some of the ways in which fans engage with the object of their fandom by copying it, remixing it, or dismantling it altogether to make something new. While by no means a comprehensive history of fandom, the exhibition illustrates the legacy of fan participation broadly and recognizes the contributions of the individual fan.
The exhibition opening reception of Destroy All Monsters is being held on Thursday, September 12 from 4:30 – 6:00p.m. at Bird Library, 6th floor. Those interested in attending the reception can register using this link. Communication Access Realtime Translation will be provided at the reception. Those requiring other accommodations can email mlwagh@syr.edu by September 2.
About Special Collections Research Center and Syracuse University Libraries:
Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center collects, preserves and provides access to materials that document the history of Syracuse University and our global society, including rare printed material, original manuscripts, photographs, artworks, audio and moving image recordings, University records and more. Collection areas include activism and social reform, radicalism in the arts, architecture and industrial design, photography, the history of recorded sound and more. Located on the 6th floor of Bird Library, the SCRC is a vibrant research and learning environment for Syracuse University students, faculty and the broader scholarly community, providing access to world-renowned rare and archival collections and expert guidance in their use to facilitate personal discovery and the creation of new knowledge.