Research and Reference Library

The Center for Ray Bradbury Studies’ archives includes a large research/reference collection of genre publications, including novels and short story collections, pulp genre magazines, anthologies, and iconographic studies. Together, these collections form a large reference library dedicated to the broader study of science, horror, fantasy, and crime fiction. Below is an outline of this library.

Science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels/story collections/anthologies

A wide range of titles in the traditions of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and crime fiction by nineteenth and twentieth-century American, British, and Continental authors.

Highlights:

  • Some of the first science fiction hardbound and paperback anthologies, including The Pocket Book of Science Fiction, edited by Donald Wollheim (1943)

Genre Criticism

Scholarly monographs and essay collections focused on the genres in which Ray Bradbury wrote, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and crime fiction; an invaluable resource for the student of genre fiction.

Highlights:

  • The work of Darko Suvin, Alexei Panshin, and Mike Ashley

Genre Films and Criticism

Includes genre-defining and genre-crossing films and television shows in the tradition of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. The bulk of the collection is made up of DVDs, but VHS, Betamax, and reel formats also represented. Playback equipment available.

Highlights:

  • Special issue of the dramatized Dune

Pulp and related genre magazines

One of the largest repositories for pulp magazines in the Midwest, the pulp and genre collection at the CRBS preserves the legacy of detective, Western, weird, fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Covers the years between 1914 and the 1990s. Of the approximately 1,850 magazines in the collection, 1,600 were Bradbury’s personal copies.

Highlights:

  • Astounding Science Fiction, complete run from 1938-1940
  • Copies of Buffalo Bill Weekly (the forerunner of Western Magazine), circa 1914

Iconographies

A selection of high-quality, bound reproductions of the paintings, illustrations, and images from science fiction, fantasy, and horror visual artists.

Highlights:

  • Multiple collections of the animation work of Ray Harryhausen