Science fiction libraries and museums
Encyclopedia
With the growth of science fiction studies
Science fiction studies
This article is about the field of science fiction studies. For the journal of the same title, please see Science Fiction Studies.Science fiction studies is the common name for the academic discipline that studies and researches the history, culture, and works of science fiction and, more broadly,...

 as an academic discipline as well as a popular media genre, a number of libraries, museums, archives, and special collections have been established to collect and organize works of scholarly and historical value in the field.

Key collections

The Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculation is a leading collection of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

. It was founded in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 in 1970 by Judith Merril
Judith Merril
Judith Josephine Grossman , who took the pen-name Judith Merril about 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist....

. This public library
Toronto Public Library
Toronto Public Library is a public library system based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest public library system in Canada and in 2008, had averaged a higher...

 collection contains over 63,000 items, including books, magazines, audiovisual works, original manuscripts, and other items of interest to both casual users and academic researchers.

Paul Allen
Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...

 and Jody Patton founded the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in 2004, located at the base of Space Needle
Space Needle
The Space Needle is a tower in Seattle, Washington and is a major landmark of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and a symbol of Seattle. Located at the Seattle Center, it was built for the 1962 World's Fair, during which time nearly 20,000 people a day used the elevators, with over...

 in Seattle. Prominent authors such as Greg Bear
Greg Bear
Gregory Dale Bear is an American science fiction and mainstream author. His work has covered themes of galactic conflict , artificial universes , consciousness and cultural practices , and accelerated evolution...

 serve as advisers to the museum.

An important museum of the genre is Maison d’Ailleurs
Maison d'Ailleurs
The Maison d'Ailleurs , is a museum of science fiction, utopia and extraordinary journeys in Yverdon-les-Bains...

 ("House of Elsewhere") in Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains
Yverdon-les-Bains is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district...

, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, housing a large collection of literature relating to science fiction, utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...

s, and extraordinary journeys. It was founded by the French encyclopedist Pierre Versins
Pierre Versins
Pierre Versins was a French Science Fiction collector and scholar. He was also the founder of the Maison d'Ailleurs, museum of science fiction, utopia and extraordinary journey in Yverdon-les-Bains, ....

 in 1976 and now owns over 40,000 books, as well as many other items related to science fiction and its imagery.

Research collections



Popular culture collections with strong SF

Museums

  • Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, Seattle, Washington
    Seattle, Washington
    Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

    , founded in 2004.
  • Maison d’Ailleurs
    Maison d'Ailleurs
    The Maison d'Ailleurs , is a museum of science fiction, utopia and extraordinary journeys in Yverdon-les-Bains...

     ("House of Elsewhere"), Yverdon-les-Bains
    Yverdon-les-Bains
    Yverdon-les-Bains is a municipality in the district of Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is the seat of the district...

    , Switzerland
    Switzerland
    Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

     (founded 1976 and holding more than 40,000 books and other items)

Important databases and portals

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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