Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Larry Taylor Collection
Date(s)
- 1958-2008 (Creation)
Extent
2 boxes and 1 folder
Name of creator
Biographical history
Larry Taylor was a reader and writer who expressed his “fandom” by organizing conventions to which he could invite writers, artists, athletes, and actors whom he admired, for his own enjoyment as well as others’. From the time as a boy when his mother bought the Encyclopedia Britannica for him, he was a voracious reader, and the movie theater was also a frequent boyhood destination. He met his future wife, Laurie Gelb, while attending the University of Houston, where he chaired the University's first sf/f convention, Collegecon, in 1980 and 1981. Guests at these UH shows included Harlan Ellison, Burne Hogarth, Gil Kane, Robert Sheckley, Robert Silverberg, George Takei, Walter Koenig, and Leonard Nimoy.
Among the conventions that Larry attended simply as a fan was AggieCon (1981). He was friends with Becky Matthews, the con chairperson at that time.
After leaving the University of Houston, Larry briefly owned a Montrose bookstore, Metropolis, with his wife, during which time their son Sean was born. Thereafter, Larry organized and promoted diverse conventions in the Houston area, featuring various combinations of comic books, toys, sf/f, sports and non-sports cards, and movie memorabilia, until moving to the East Coast in 1997. While in Houston, he also operated part-time retail comic shops at the Four Seasons, Westbury, and Cole’s (Pearland) flea markets at various times, also attending other conventions as a dealer.
Many of Larry’s shows featured well-known artists and writers, e.g., Spain Rodriguez, Don Rosa, John Severin, William Stout, and the Hernandez Brothers, as well as Houston figures such as columnist Jeff Millar and Astros players. However, Larry also produced many dealer-driven shows to allow fans to enjoy interacting with other fans and dealers without a large admission cost, and sometimes for free.
Larry contributed to several charities through auctions at his shows and at the shop of his friend, Roy Bonario, also well known in Houston fandom.
Numerous comic book industry professionals first attended his shows as fans or emerging artists, including Doug Hazlewood, Chip Mosher, Joe Nozemack, Martin Thomas, and Shannon Wheeler.
Later in life, Larry’s fiction writing was recognized with several honors and awards. He died in Seattle in 2014.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This collection contains materials to the business and fannish career of Houston-area fan and con organizer Larry Taylor. Included in the collection are numerous fanzines, most of them from fans and fan associations in Texas in general and the Houston area in particular; program books, flyers, advertisements, and other documentation relating to genre conventions, including Collegecon '80 and Collegecon 2, cons at the University of Houston that Taylor helped run as a UH student; materials relating to Taylor's media company; and miscellaneous other materials.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
These materials are stored offsite and require additional time for retrieval.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Donated by Sean Taylor, February 2022. (2022_0017)