S C I E N C E   F I C T I O N  

             O R A L   H I S T O R Y   A S S O C I A T I O N                                         

A R C H I V E S 
 
 

S E R I E S      E N M U 
 
 

     This series contains tapes accumulated at the Jack Williamson Library at Eastern New Mexico University. The library kindly donated copies to the Science Fiction Oral History Association. Eastern New Mexico University is a major Science Fiction research center. Its Science Fiction library honors Science Fiction writer Jack Williamson, who was a member of the university's English faculty for seventeen years. Williamson's own donations to the library constitute the core of one of the world's largest Science Fiction collections. The last time anyone tried an estimate, it contained some 10,000 books, some 10,000 magazine issues, and 130 cubic feet of manuscripts and personal papers. It is a Science Fiction Writers of America regional archive and also a regional archive of the Science Fiction Oral History Association. 

     In 1977, the university instituted The Williamson Lectureship Lectures to honor the past and ongoing contributions of Professor Jack Williamson, who is now retired and holds the rank of Professor Emeritus. The lectureship is an annual event at the university. The first lectures, on June 7, 1977 were delivered by Frederik Pohl and James Gunn. Recordings made on that occasion were included in the tape collection of Frederik Pohl, which was donated to SFOHA a number of years ago.  They are cataloged in Series FP as tapes FP--39, 40, 41. They are mentioned here because they are properly a part of the series listed below, but they will remain cataloged in the FP Series. 

     In 1978, Williamson's Golden Anniversary as a Science Fiction writer was celebrated with a reception but no lecture. The Williamson Lectureship Lectures resumed in 1979 and have been given annually since then. Not all were recorded. Those for which tapes are available are found in this series as ENMU--7; ENMU--8; ENMU--9; ENMU--10; ENM--14; ENM--15; ENMU--20; ENMU--21. 

     One other tape in the ENMU collection is actually a copy of an SFOHA master, the Pohl and Williamson panel on collaboration held at ConFusion 14 in 1977. This original is cataloged as MSU 34. A copy was given to Jack Williamson at the time, and it was included in the tapes he donated to the ENMU collection. This tape also is omitted from the ENMU Series. 

     In addition to the Williamson donations, the ENMU Collection also includes tapes donated by Hal Hall, of Texas A&M University, as well as recordings of events that took place at the university. The library can make available transcripts or copies of formal papers used by the speakers in many of the lectures. 

     It should be noted that the SFOHA masters in this series are copies of the ENMU masters. Anyone interested in using these tapes at the Jack Williamson Library will find a different classification system in effect there for tapes of the ENMU Series. The library's catalog should be consulted. The SFOHA Regional Archives at Michigan State University and the University of Kansas will use the SFOHA classification for tapes of the ENMU Series. 

SERIES ENMU--CONTENTS 

ENMU--1 (90) 

     Both Sides. Panel, "2001--Science Fiction or Man's Future?" Recording of the radio program, "Sound on Film," a series of broadcasts on films and the people who make them. This is program 6, broadcast May 7 1970. Panelists are Arthur C. Clarke, Dr. Margaret Mead, and Alvin Toffler. Joseph Gelman is the moderator. This was a one-hour broadcast. 

ENMU--2 (90) 

Both Sides. Frederik Pohl speaking at Eastern New Mexico University, April 28, 1971.  Introduction by Jack Williamson.  Pohl discusses the nature of science fiction and why people read it. The tape is indistinct in places, especially on Side B. 

ENMU--3 (60) 

     Both Sides. lst of 2 tapes. Edmond Hamilton, interviewed by Bertil Falk, November 11, 1975. Parts I and 2 of the interview; concluded on ENMU--4. 

ENMU--4 (60) 

     Side A. 2nd of 2 tapes. Edmond Hamilton, interviewed by Bertil Falk, November 11, 1975. Part 3 of the interview, concluded from tape ENMU--3.

     Side B. Leigh Brackett with an unidentified interviewer. The date is probably that of the Hamilton interview, November 11, 1975. 

ENMU--5 (90) 

Both Sides.   Jack Williamson, talk to the South Plains Historical Society, Levelland, Texas, March, 1978, concerning his own beginning interest in Science Fiction and the changes that have taken place in it over his long career 

ENMU--6 (90)

     Both Sides. Jack Williamson, interviewed by Mary Shauf, October 17, 1981. 

ENMU--7 (90) 

    Both Sides. Jack Williamson Lectureship Lecture, Eastern New Mexico University, April 16, 1981. Dr. Vortran Gregorian, speaking on, "Past and Future." Introduction by Dr. Bob Goodrich, ENMU faculty member. 

ENMU--8 (90)

     Both Sides. Jack Williamson Lectureship Lecture, Eastern New Mexico University, March 30, 1982. Dr. John Newport, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, speaking on "Humanism in the Future." Introduction by Dr. Bob Goodrich, ENMU faculty member. The first two minutes of Side A are blank. 

ENMU-9 (60) 

     Both Sides. 1st of 2 tapes.    Jack Williamson Lectureship Lecture, Eastern New Mexico University, April 20, 1983. Robert Silverberg "The Future of Unhumanism," Parts 1 and 2. Ron Fowler, ENMU faculty member, Moderator.  Concluded on ENMU-10. This is a poor recording with indistinct audio in many places. 

ENMU--10 (60) 

     Side A Only. 2nd of 2 tapes. Jack Williamson Lectureship Lecture, Eastern New Mexico University, April 20, 1983. Robert Silverberg, "The Future of Unhumanism," Part 3. Concluded from ENMU--9. Poor recording, audio indistinct in many places.

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--11 (90) 

     Side A Only. Jack Williamson, interviewed by Jonna Storey on June 20, 1983. Interview subject, "Utopia."

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--12 (90) 

     Side A. Panel on computers and artificial intelligence with Jack Williamson, Steve Golden, Melinda Snodgrass.  Moderator unidentified.  Recorded at Bubonicon 15, Science Fiction Convention held at Albuquerque, New Mexico, August 26 (one commentator says 27) 1983. Poor audio.

     Side B. GoH talks at Bubonicon 15, August 26, 1983. Pro GoH Jack Williamson follows a lengthy fan GoH speech. 

ENMU--13 (90) 

     Both Sides. Panel, "The Galactic Epic," with Jack Williamson, Poul Anderson, and Larry Niven. Recorded at Westercon 28, Los Angeles, California. 

ENMU--14 (90) 

     Side A Only.  Williamson Lectureship Lecture, April 9, 1986. Noon Lecture. Edward G. Bryant, "Ad Astra Per Covered Wagon:  When Our Present Was Jack Williamson's Future." Introduction by Forrest Walker, ENMU faculty member.

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--15 (90)

     Both Sides. Williamson Lectureship Lecture, April 9, 1986. Evening lecture. Edward G. Bryant, ''The Dr. Jekyll and Hyde Affair: Why Writers Need to be Critics." Introduction by Forrest Walker, ENMU faculty member. Side B has Q&A. Very poor audio. 

ENMU--16 (90) 

     Both Sides. lst of 2 Tapes. Interview of A.J. Budrys by C. Edwin Dowlin at the Golden Library, Eastern New Mexico University. Jack Williamson is present but says little. This is a thorough exploration of Budrys's background and career. Parts 1 and 2; concluded on ENMU--17. 

ENMU--17 (90) 

     Side A Only. 2nd of 2 Tapes. A.J. Budrys, interviewed by C. Edwin Dowlin at Eastern New Mexico University. Part 3, concluded from ENMU--16.

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--18 (90) 

     Both Sides. Thomas Dean Clareson, interviewed at the Williamson Library, ENMU, July 19, 1986, by Mary Jo Walker. Jack Williamson, and Alice Clareson were present.  The interview concerns Clareson's career and lifelong interest in Science Fiction and his pioneering work in Science Fiction scholarship. 

ENMU--19 (90) 

     Side A Only. Jack Williamson, interviewed by Thomas Dean Clareson. Topics:  Science Fiction fans who became scholars; the Mystical vs. Scientific Bases of Science Fiction.  Alice Clareson present. Recorded at the Portales, N.M. Inn during breakfast, July 19, 1986. Approx. 30 minutes.

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--20 (90) 

     Both Sides. Williamson Lectureship Lecture, April 8,-1987. Luncheon  Talk. Dr. Thelma Shinn, "Goddess Myths in Womens Fantasy Literature." 

ENMU--21 (90) 

Side A Only. Williamson Lectureship Lecture, April 8, 1987. Evening Lecture. Dr. Thelma Shinn, "Worlds Within Women: Programs for Social Change."

     Side B. Blank. 

     Items 22-29 are recordings of radio broadcasts of The

Science Fiction Show, which were done by several people at Odessa College in Odessa, Texas.  The group eventually incorporated as the Permian Basin Science Fiction Association.  The broadcasts were prepared in conjunction with Radio Station KOOB-FM, Odessa, Texas, and Odessa College. They are handled with professional competence, and for the most part the recordings are very good. (In a few instances voices of interview subjects, perhaps recorded from the telephone, are faint, but they are still distinct.) This is an ambitious series of which these recordings seem to represent only a part. The interviews and contributions from well-known writers to discussions of SF topics are valuable and should be noted by scholars. 

      The program ran from 1980 to 1983.  Individual tapes are not dated.  There are two types of programs--those a half hour in length, recorded here on one side of a 60 minute tape; and brief programs of five minutes or so, recorded here five on one side of a sixty minute tape. The longer programs came first, and were followed by the shorter programs.

Several commentators or interviewers take part. With the half hour programs, the hosts are David Crews, Daryl Lane, and David Carson. Bill Vernon is added to the group later. With the change to the short format, two of these act as hosts in various combination.  
 

In 1995, all of the programs of the Science Fiction Radio Show were donated to SFOHA, along with the raw tapes from which these programs were compiled, by members of the group that recorded them.  These tapes are preserved as a separated collection with the heading labeled The SFRS Collection.  Since most of the collection is on reels, it must be transferred to cassettes for inclusion in the SFOHA Archives.  See SFRS Series--WB for further information about these tapes and a listing of tapes re-engineered on cassettes to date. 

ENMU--22 (60) 

     Side A Only. The Science Fiction Radio Show. "Early Science Fiction," a discussion with David Crews, Daryl Lane, and David Carson, with  an interview of Jack Williamson, who discusses his early life and what it was like to write for the early magazines. Williamson's voice weak; otherwise audio good.

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--23 (60) 

     Both Sides., lst of 2 Tapes. The Science Fiction Radio Show. An interview with Jack Williamson extending over three half-hour programs. Parts 1 and 2, with David Crews, Daryl Lane, and David Carson as interviewers.  Concluded on ENMU--24. 

ENMU--24 (60) 

     Side A Only. 2nd of 2 Tapes. The Science Fiction Radio Show. Part 3 of an interview with Jack Williamson extending over three half-hour programs.  David Crews, Daryl Lane, and David Carson, interviewers. Concluded from ENMU--23.

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--25 (60) 

Side A Only.   The Science Fiction Radio Show.  "Space Opera." A discussion of its history and nature by David Crews, Daryl Lane, and David Carson, with short interviews on this subject with Jack Williamson and A.E. van Vogt.

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--26 (60) 

     Side A. The Science Fiction Radio Show.  With this tape, the format changes to short programs, five to a tape side. Sometimes a subject or interview is pursued for several programs. Side A contains a discussion on the nature of SF by David Crews and Daryl Lane with comments by C.J. Cherryh and Frederik Pohl; a discussion by Crews and Lane on why people read SF with comments by Jack Chalker and C.J. Cherryh; a discussion by Crews and Lane on the beginnings of SF with comments by L. Sprague de Camp and Jack Williamson; an interview of Jack Williamson by David Carson and Daryl Lane on early SF; a discussion by Bill Vernon and David Crews of SF in' the late 1930s with commentary by Jack Williamson, A.E. van Vogt, Frederik Pohl, and L. Sprague de Camp.

     Side B. Three short interviews with Hal Clement (Harry C. Stubbs) by Daryl Lane and David Carson on Clement's background, on his creation of alien life forms, and on the novel Mission of Gravity. This is followed by two programs concerning John W. Campbell's contributions and his influence on SF by Vernon and Carson and Lane and Carson with commentary by Jack Williamson, A.E. van Vogt, Frederik Pohl, and L. Sprague de Camp. 

ENMU--27 (60) 

     Side A Only. The Science Fiction Radio Show. Joe Haldeman, interviewed in four installments by David Carson and David Crews. The final program is concerned with the question, "What makes Science Fiction distinct from Mainstream Fiction?" The discussion contains short comments from Jack Chalker and Jack Williamson.

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--28 (60) 

     Side A. The Science Fiction Radio Show. Fred Saberhagen, interviewed on four short programs by Bill Vernon and Daryl Lane. The fifth program duplicates the discussion of SF and Mainstream Fiction that ends ENMU--27, Side A.

     Side B. The Science Fiction Radio Show. Four short interviews with Jack Williamson--on his novel, Humanoids; on genetic engineering, of which he made an early use in his Science Fiction; on collaboration; and on SF in the classroom. The final program is an interview of Dr. Kerpal Singh, teacher at the National University of Singapore, scholar, author, editor, on the ineptitudes of SF criticism by Mainstream critics. 

ENMU--29 (60) 

     Side A. The Science Fiction Radio Show. Pamela Sargent interviewed on three short programs by Bill Vernon and Daryl Lane. Jack Williamson, interviewed by Vernon and Lane about his novel, Darker Than You Think. Roger Zelazny, interviewed by Vernon and Lane about his use of myth in his writing.

     Side B. The Science Fiction Radio Show. Ray Bradbury, interviewed on two short programs by Bill Vernon and Daryl Lane. C.J. Cherryh, interviewed on three short programs by David Crews and Daryl Lane. The first concerns her collection of stories Sun Fall The other two concern her novel Down Below Station. 

ENMU--30 (90) 

     Side A Only. Jack Williamson reads his short story, "Jamboree," on the radio program, "New Letters on the Air." The program calls itself the Magazine of Literature and Photography. The reading took place at the University of Kansas in 1982 when Williamson was there for the Science Fiction Research Association meeting,and was recorded at Radio Station KANU.  Apparent duplicate of MISC--44.

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--31 (60) 

     Side A Only. The Science Fiction Scrapbook, with Professor Paul Carter. A short (15 minute) radio talk about Science Fiction, including the SF pulps and their role in developing SF, the New Wave, etc. Probably one of a series, the tape is marked #70.

     Side B. Blank. 

ENMU--32 (60) 

     Both Sides. Jack Williamson and his wife, Blanch Slaten Williamson, interviewed by Jean M. Burroughs. "Growing up in the Milnesand Community."  The interview touches on homesteading, Jack's life as a farmboy, his first storytelling, experiences as a beginning author, and his first successes.  Recorded at Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, N.M., November 18, 1972. 

ENMU--33 (60) 

     Both Sides. Jack Williamson, interviewed by Paul Turpen. "The Writing Career of Jack Williamson." Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, N.M., October 17 and November 7, 1974. 

ENMU--34 (60) 

     Side A Only.Jack Williamson, speaking to the Roosevelt County Historical Society at Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, N.M., May 12, 1975. Subject: "By covered wagon to dry land farm." This talk on homesteading in New Mexico is 25 minutes long. It is followed by further proceedings of the historical society, a third generation homesteader reading a paper written by her mother. This concludes on Side B. 

ENMU--35 (90) 

     Both Sides. Jack Williamson, interviewed by Robert E. Myers. "Insights from fifty years of flight . . ." Interview at Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, N.M., June 1, 1978.