Anna Whiting | 2026 I.S. Symposium
±·²¹³¾±ð:ÌýAnna Whiting
°Õ¾±³Ù±ô±ð:ÌýAn Archive of One’s Own: Collecting Fandom as a Feminist Project Through the Lens of Star Trek Fanzines
²Ñ²¹Âá´Ç°ù²õ:ÌýEnglish; Sociology
Advisors: Claire Eager; Christa Craven
This project studies academic archives of fanzines, fanart, and fanfiction of Star Trek: The Original Series. I analyze how fan culture in the 1960s-90s United States was used to give voices to traditionally un- or underrepresented groups, and how the archiving of these works in the present day gives further voice to these social movements and communities’ literary contributions. To do so, I discuss my experience conducting research using Bowling Green State University’s Alice J. Mills K/S Fanzine Collection and with a variety of archival collections at the University of Iowa. I analyze the structure of these archives and the
decisions made in the collection and organization of fandom-related materials to understand the power structures in place within these archives. I further conduct a close reading of the eighth issue of the fanzine Not Tonight, Spock! to demonstrate that fanzines represent sites of intellectual labor and community building, and that fanwriters challenge hegemonic ideas of gender and sexuality. I argue for the importance of collecting and studying fanworks as a uniquely woman-dominated form of literature, using principles of feminist bibliography and liberation bibliography.
Posted in Symposium 2026 on May 1, 2026.
