A Brief History of the Zine
The history of zines can be traced back to the early 20th century. Zines can feature poetry, art, collage, interviews, comics, and much much more. Zines and zine creation harken back to a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) aesthetic that is harder and harder to come by in our modern, mass-produced world. Zines are created with passion and purpose and are often designed to educate the reader on a particularly important issue or shine light on things not talked about in mainstream American culture. The very first zine documented was created in May of 1930 by an organization called the Science Correspondence Club where fans of Science Fiction could submit letters discussing science and the emerging genre of Science Fiction. This first zine, called The Comet, was reproduced via mimeograph, which was a stencil-based precursor to the modern photocopy machine.
From here, science fiction fandom is what caused a real boom in the explosion of zine culture in America. In October of 1940, Russ Chauvenet coined the term “fanzine” in his sci-fi publication Detours. A number of popular science fiction authors of the day created zines, including Ray Bradbury, Jack Williamson, and Robert A. Heinlein, which may surprise modern day readers. The 1940s also saw the first queer-focused zine created, with Vice Versa by Lisa Ben in June of 1947. Throughout the 1950s and 60s the movement grew with the introduction of the xerographic photocopier, which made recreating and distributing zines easier than ever. The 1970s and 80s saw a collision of zines and emerging punk culture that brought the art form even further into the public view. Today, zines are more prevalent than ever, and have even begun to move into public libraries as part of a collection.
Early examples of zines
