D&D General "The Women of Dungeons & Dragons" USC Library Display Case

[Jahydin]

That is awesome!!!

It really bums me out when I see articles/blogs/posts that run on the assumption that women in the hobby is a recent thing (probably from the rise of more female gamers). As the "The Women in Dungeons and Dragons" sign points out though, there have always been important women contributors to the hobby since it's inception and it's great to see them get recognized.

 

[Cadence]

I find it odd/interesting that D&D was included given the exhibits title of Science Fiction. (The LeGuin books, for example were two copies of Left Hand of Darkness) although the display case of the early 20th Century had Fantasy in it too, for example.

In regards to my own question. The chapter on Holmes Basic in the new "Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons" talks about how D&D spread in California in large part through SCA and science fiction clubs. And that "Southern California supported a strong speculative fiction fan community through the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society."

This of course leads to googling up the differences and similarities of sci-fi and fantasy and the nature of genres.

In any event it is still kind of odd to me that some of the displays seemed to have a fairly strong split between the two and some didn't (I might have to go read the cards again in the other cases).

 

[AnotherGuy]

The University of South Carolina Thomas Cooper Library currently has a small display on "Women in Science Fiction: From Frankenstein to Dungeons and Dragons." (Click on thumbnails below to see larger versions).

It consists of two upright display cases and three flat ones just inside the doors to the right.

That's pretty neat. Did one of the club/societies (I'm suspecting one of the TTRPG societies) of the university put it together?

 

[Cadence]

That's pretty neat. Did one of the club/societies (I'm suspecting one of the TTRPG societies) of the university put it together?

Looks like it was part of one of the regular library displays (and they brought in Octavia E. Butler). A lot of the books don't look like they were part of the regular collection though (at least according to the catalog), so not sure where they all came from. [Edit: I suspect they have a shadow collection downstairs somewhere.]

"Shifting the Rules": Thomas Cooper Exhibits Spotlights the Role of Women in Science Fiction - University Libraries | University of South Carolina

“Women in Science Fiction: From Frankenstein to Dungeons and Dragons,” an exhibit at Thomas Cooper Library curated by Rare Books Librarian David Shay, explores the rich history of female Science Fiction writers through University Libraries’ collections of works spanning from the 1600s through...

www.sc.edu

 

[occam]

This is a cool exhibit! Anne McCaffrey seems like an odd omission, though. But I'm sure we could come up with a lot more, and there's only so much room in those cases.