Ming Wathne

Are you looking for the University of Iowa Fanzine Archives?
 
Ming Wathne was a Star Wars fan, a writer and zine editor of the fanzine Bright Center of the Universe, from 1991 to 2001. But her largest contribution to fandom was as the long-time librarian of the "Corellian Archives," which became the Fanzine Archives. 
Ming wrote in 1993 of her most pleasent experiences in fandom: "Just meeting people sharing the same interests, talking, sharing, enjoying together. If I must single out MOST... starting (or taking over) the Library and seeing it grow! And being allowed the privilege of compiling and printing the Arando stories of Martha Wilson who has just published her first professional book..." from Comlink #57 
In addition to writing fanfiction and marinating a fanzine library, Ming was also a cosplayer and her costumes won several awards at Nolacon, one of the two Worldcons held in New Orleans. 
==Meta==
* Fanzines & Collectors (1995)
==Some Costuming Awards==
Image:nolaconcostume1.jpg|a 1988 Nolacon award for Ming's costume: "Ming Lonestrider"
Image:nolaconcostume2.jpg|a 1988 Nolacon award for Ming's costume: "Corriallen Prime" 
==The Fanzine Archive's Birth and George Lucas==
Starting in 1989, Ming was very much involved in the print zine archive: The Fanzine Archives: A Library for the Preservation & Circulation of Fan-created Material.
* Beginning in 1981 (perhaps earlier), While perhaps not a requirement of Lucas at this time and more a courtesy, the editor on a flyer for Against the Sith #4 (April 1979) notes that "copies of Against the Sith were ordered by George Lucas and Gary Kurtz for their collections and the Lucasfilm archives." George Lucas requests that copies of all Star Wars fanzines be sent to him; the Official Star Wars Fan Club folds in 1986. 
* The zines are turned over to First Terran Enclave, and they ran it as a lending library from summer 1986 to December 1987.
* The zines resided in an unknown location and were not circulated for two years.
* In November 1989, Ming wrote a letter to Comlink and explains she is re-opening the lending library and hopes to have it up and running in the spring of 1990. Soon other fans were asking if she'd take copies of non-Star Wars zines, and she started collecting them, too, eventually remodeling her house to make shelf space for the hundreds, then thousands of different fanzines she acquired and cataloged. Local fans helped log in new zines, but was Ming's show for more than 20 years. The final version of her library became known as The Fanzine Archives: A Library for the Preservation & Circulation of Fan-created Material. The Fanzine Archives became a federally recognized, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and circulation of fanzines. The Archives maintained an active circulating library of over 300 fanzines, and a permanent collection of over 3,000 titles.
* In August 2008, the library was closed due to Ming's poor health. Ming asked fans to help her find a permanent home for the 3,000 plus zines she carefully accumulated and indexed. "Note: As of August 2008, the Fanzine Archives is closed due to health constraints of the Librarian. Thank you to all the fans whose creativity, effort and inspiration have made this project possible over the years. We are considering passing the library on to a new librarian, if we could find someone with the capacity to store the vast collection of zines, and the willingness to distribute them freely as a service to all fans. If you think you are this person, please send a real, paper letter to Ming Wathne" Closing note, August 2008.
* In early 2009, the Open Doors committee of the Organization for Transformative Works helped to place the Fanzine Archives with the Special Collections department of the University of Iowa Libraries as part of their Fan Culture Preservation Project. 62 boxes of zines were transferred to the University, where they were cataloged. Ming's Finding Aid is here and the list of other fandom Finding Aids is here: Fandom related Zine Collections at the University Of Iowa. 
==Remembrances==
She died on December 17, 2010 at the age of 84, leaving behind a husband of 60 years, 2 sons and 3 grandsons.OTW Blog Post noting memorial. After Ming's death, her husband requested that memorial donations be directed to a fund supporting this collection. Gifts in memory of Ming may be made by sending a check made out to The University of Iowa Foundation to: The University of Iowa Foundation, Levitt Center for University Advancement, One West Park Road, P.O. Box 4550, Iowa City IA 52244-4550
== References ==
Category:Deceased
Category:Fanwriters
Category:2010 Deaths
Category:Cosplayers