With the growth of

science fiction studies ''Science Fiction Studies'' (''SFS'') is an academic journal founded in 1973 by R. D. Mullen. The journal is published three times per year at DePauw University. As Science fiction studies, the name implies, the journal publishes articles and ...

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 (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

. It was founded in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1970 by Judith Merril. This

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

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 Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the ...

and Jody Patton founded the

Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame The Museum of Pop Culture (or MoPOP) is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, United States, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then ...

in 2004, located at the base of

Space Needle The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States. Considered to be an icon of the city, it has been designated a List of Seattle landmarks, Seattle landmark. Located in the Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, Lower Queen An ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. Prominent authors such as

Greg Bear Gregory Dale Bear (August 20, 1951 – November 19, 2022) was an American science fiction writer. His work covered themes of Interstellar_war, galactic conflict (''The Forge of God, Forge of God'' books), parallel universes (''The Way (Greg Bear ...

serve as advisers to the museum. An important museum of the genre is Maison d’Ailleurs ("House of Elsewhere") in Yverdon-les-Bains,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, housing a large collection of literature relating to science fiction,

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

s, and extraordinary journeys. It was founded by the French encyclopedist Pierre Versins in 1976 and now owns over 70,000 books, as well as many other items (60,000) related to science fiction and its imagery.

List of archives, libraries, museums, and collections

Research collections

Jack Williamson Science Fiction Library
lending library of over 20,000 volumes of speculative fiction at Eastern New Mexico University. Includes archival materials from authors.
J. Lloyd Eaton Collection of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Utopian Literature
(

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

)
Collection description

The Science Fiction Foundation Collection
Special Collections and Archives, Sydney Jones Library,

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

M. Horvat Collection of Science Fiction Fanzines
University of Iowa Libraries, Special Collections Dept.
H.G Wells Literary Papers
at The Rare Book & Manuscript Library (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
The Judith Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy
Toronto Public Library (founded 1970)
Michigan State University Libraries, Science Fiction Collection
include

and Science Fiction Writers of America depository
MIT Science Fiction Society
("the world's largest open-shelf collection of science fiction")
local index

Caltech S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
lending library of over 12,000 volumes of speculative fiction at the California Institute of Technology
Paskow Science Fiction Collection

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

Libraries (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), including a significan
collection of fanzines

University of Maryland Baltimore County, ca. 10,000 book volumes and serials, and the Coslet Collection of 15,000 SF fanzines
* Maison d’Ailleurs ("House of Elsewhere"), Yverdon-les-Bains,

(founded 1976 and holding more than 40,000 books and other items)
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Collection
Northern Illinois University. Science Fiction Writers of America depository, pulps, and collects the papers of current SF authors. *

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

's Special Collections, including the "Roland Bounds Science Fiction Collection" (30,000 volumes) *

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

'
"Bud Foote Science Fiction Collection"
(established 1999; 8,000+ volumes) *

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

'
"Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection"
(More than 20,000 titles and "over ninety percent of the American science fiction pulp magazines published prior to 1980") *

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

'
"Elizabeth Chater Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy"

Seoul Science Fiction & Fantasy LibraryScience Fiction Collections
at th
University of South FloridaScience Fiction Collections
at th
Kenneth Spencer Research Library
University of Kansas
Phantastische Bibliothek Wetzlar, Germany
(270,000 volumes of speculative fiction, mainly in German, including a significant collection of pulp magazines and fanzines)
Villa Fantastica, Vienna, Austria
public library founded 2010 by :de:Helmuth W. Mommers, holding 50,000 volumes mainly in German, including a broad collection of German "Dime Novels"
University of Oslo Science Library
(8,000 volumes of science fiction )
Murdoch University Science Fiction Collection
(including over 13,000 book titles and a significant number of fanzines)
J. Francis McComas Science Fiction Collection
San Francisco Public Library
The University of Alabama in Huntsville Special Collections and Archives
collects science fiction in English and German and has archival collections from Willy Ley and Robert Forward.
City Tech Science Fiction Collection
Ursula C. Schwerin Library, New York City College of Technology
The University of Calgary Bob Gibson Collection of Speculative Fiction
is a collection of 28,000 hardcover books, paperbacks, pulp magazines and other materials collected by the late Bob (William Robert) Gibson and donated by his son Andrew. These items can be viewed in the archive and portions of the collection have been digitized. ; Popular culture collections with strong SF

Stanford University Library ("Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfuls")

Museums

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, founded in 2004. * Maison d’Ailleurs ("House of Elsewhere"), Yverdon-les-Bains,

(founded 1976 and holding more than 70,000 books and 60,000 other items) * Museum of Science Fiction,

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, founded in 2013 with a goal of becoming the world's first comprehensive science fiction museum.

Important databases and portals

SF Hub
the University of Liverpool Library's "Science Fiction Foundation" collection
Science Fiction & Fantasy Research Database
Texas A&M University, College Station; A freely available online resource (more than 145,000 items) designed to help students and researchers locate secondary sources for the study of the science fiction and fantasy and associated genres; these include: historical material; books; articles; news reports; interviews; film reviews; commentary; and fan writing.
Center for the Study of Science Fiction

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

ISFDB
the Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase

Map of major SF Archival Collections
maintained by ''The Eaton Journal of Archival Research in Science Fiction''
SF Archival Collections Wiki
a growing wiki of the locations of SF writers' papers, crowd-sourced by librarians.

References

{{Science fiction Libraries and museums Libraries and museums Libraries and museums Museum collections Lists of museums by subject Museums in popular culture Types of museums Libraries by subject