The history of Star Trek conventions

Star Trek 'zine from 1976

A photo essay at Newsweek.com narrated by Angelique Trouvere features 17 snapshots from the earliest Star Trek conventions in the 1970s, with a homemade program from the very first con in Newark in 1969 and lots of early costumers, along with what look like costumers but are just people wearing their ordinary street clothes in the 1970s.

The Newsweek photo essay raises some interesting points, especially about the initial con fandom being made up mostly of women. Look for a young Leonard Nimoy in an all-denim suit and red bandanna.

It was only a matter of time before licensing by Paramount and Viacom entered the Star Trek convention picture; corporate involvement enabled larger conventions with the stars of the series.

Lori Brown, editor of scifispace.com, has an article by about early convention days; she has a lot of experience running conventions and includes some nice reminiscences about cast members she has met. Back in the day, the way Star Trek fans kept in touch with each other to discuss the show was through memberships in organizations that produced small, usually mimeographed publications still known as "fanzines". Also people would seek out like-minded pen pals (yes, that was a real thing pre-Internet, younglings) with whom to discuss Star Trek. Conventions began slowly as a labor of love by hardcore fans, but have grown today into a regular feature of the entertainment economy.

If you want to read more, Joan Winston's The Making of the Trek Conventions is a place to start. Winston was a member of "The Committee" of what is considered the first "official" Star Trek con in New York in 1972; Gene Roddenberry and Isaac Asimov were among the conference guests. The movie Trekkies features the story of that convention. Also on the reading list: William Shatner's Get a Life!, the title drawn from the Saturday Night Live sketch in which he abused fans, tells his story of how he came to an understanding of the motivations for ongoing fan enthusiasm.

The Star Trek convention presence today often is combined with other science fiction and fantasy themes, and indeed Star Trek accounts for only a fraction of such conventions. Large, fully-licensed cons like the one in Las Vegas this past weekend, though, are all Trek and going strong. It's been estimated that at least half of new Star Trek convention attendees are newcomers brought into the fold by the success of the 2009 Star Trek movie.

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