Editorial overview
The 1970s changed the scale of science fiction conventions. Events that had once felt intimate began to grow into larger gatherings with more programming, more attendees, higher costs, and more complicated logistics.
Table of Contents
That growth created opportunity, but it also changed the culture. Conventions needed stronger committees, clearer budgets, hotel contracts, publications, and volunteers who could manage complexity.
From Gathering to Institution
Earlier conventions often depended on personal networks and informal planning. As attendance increased, that model became harder to sustain. Registration, art shows, dealers, film rooms, masquerades, guest travel, and room scheduling all needed more structure.
The result was a new kind of fan labor. Convention running became a specialty inside fandom, with its own vocabulary, skills, arguments, and institutional memory.
Cultural Consequences
Growth brought more diversity of interest. Literary fans, media fans, gamers, costumers, artists, filkers, and collectors could all share a convention, but they also needed space and attention. Programming became a way to negotiate what the convention was for.
The 1970s therefore mark a turning point: conventions became larger public expressions of fandom while still depending on volunteer traditions developed in smaller rooms.
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