An article in the January 12, 2015 edition of the Des Moines Register highlights the University of Iowa’s acquisition of the Rusty Hevelin Collection. Donated by the PulpCon founder upon his death, the collection is now partially accessible to the public.
“The scope of the collection is astounding,” said Peter Balestrieri, the UI curator in charge of cataloging the Hevelin Collection. “There are fanzines that date back to before World War I all the way into the 21st century. Every topic you could imagine is covered there, and we’ve just begun to unpack it.”
Columnist Daniel Finney writes that “Hevelin was by most accounts the greatest science fiction convention collector and attendee of all time. He built a massive archive in more than 70 years of collecting.” Rusty is, of course, well-known to the PulpFest crowd. His PulpCon preceded the summer pulp festival now held in Columbus, Ohio.
On why Hevelin donated his collection to UI, Finney writes: “He helped found the two largest conventions in Iowa — Icon in the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area, and DemiCon in Des Moines. His positive experiences apparently led him to donate his archives to UI.”
For more information on the Hevelin Collection, please contact the University of Iowa Library Special Collections at lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Our featured image is excerpted from Walter Baumhofer’s original cover art for the March 1933 issue of Doc Savage. For many years, Rusty Hevelin owned the painting.
A photograph by Chuck Welch of Rusty Hevelin (R) & Al Tonik (L) at the 1999 Pulpcon illustrates our post.
