Science Fiction at City Tech

An anonymous donor recently gifted a tremendous collection of Science Fiction magazines (complete runs from the 1950s to the present), novels, and criticism to the New York City College of Technology, CUNY (City Tech). Alan Lovegreen and I collaborated on the proposal to acquire the collection and fund its relocation to City Tech’s Library Special Collections and Archives. While the Library prepared space for the 145 boxes of materials, we stored the collection in our two shared office spaces. Now that the space is available in the Archives, we have been moving the materials through the serpentine passages of 300 Jay Street and onto the shelves. So far, we’ve moved over 100 boxes into the Archives, and we anticipate completing the move very soon. To document the collection’s integration into the City Tech Library Archives and promote Science-Fiction-focused initiatives at the college, I created a new website called “Science Fiction at City Tech” on our open-learning platform, OpenLab. Due to the importance of this collection and the possibilities that it opens up for research, teaching, and recruitment, I added a permanent link to the Science Fiction at City Tech site in the menu above. After everything is shelved, I will create a photograph-based temporary finding aid, and the City Tech Library Archives (helmed by Keith Muchowski) will catalog the collection. There are already plans in the works for symposia, student-involvement projects, and more. Stay tuned for updates here and on the Science Fiction at City Tech site for updates.