Alvar Appeltofft Memorial Foundation Award

Reference for Fan Gallery

Rev. 27-Aug-2004

Alvar Appeltofft (1941--1975) was an early, hyperactive Swedish fan, in the 50s not seldom called "Mr. SF" on Swedish fandom. He began publishing in 1955, attended the first con, started a local club, corresponded with everyone, etc. However, this also cost him his school grades, and by the end of the 50s his parents threw away his sf and fanzine collection in order to force him to concentrate on his studies. He then rebelled by instead starting to drink and finally in a drunken spree one night smashed most of the windows in the school he went to. He was then institutionalized, diagnosed as a paranoid-schizophrenic and stayed at the St Lars mental institution for several years; when released, he was given a sick pension although still only in his late twenties. He then resumed contact with fandom, but was not particularly active, and finally killed himself at the age of 34. His parents, struck by remorse, one can assume, now contacted the board of the Scandinavian SF Society, and wanted the club to organize some kind of memorial to Alvar. After some deliberation, we decided on dryyomg up a foundation to hand out an annual award to a leading Swedish fan who in some way had performed beyond the ordinary call of fannish duty. The award has been given annually since 1976, consisting of a diploma and a fairly small cash amount. At the end of the 1980s, we were shocked to learn that Alvar Appeltofft's parents had also bequethed half their estate to the foundation, which now inherited around $100,000. The foundation since has kept giving out the award, and also owns and keeps up-to-date the largest fanzine collection in Scandinavia, virtually complete as far as regards Swedish fanzines. (John-Henri Holmberg)

Incomplete.

List matched up to current Fan Gallery Contents as of (not yet); and their bios as of (not yet); matched to Expansion List #1 (names) as of (not yet); matched to Expansion List #1 (notes) as of (not yet); matched to Expansion List #2 - Inactive (Deceased) (names) as of (not yet). matched to Expansion List #2 - Inactive (Deceased) (notes) as of (not yet).

Names in bold are on our Expansion List #1 or List #2. Names with links are already in the exhibit.

While some of the people on this list may be in the Fan Gallery, this should not be construed to mean that all the rest of them will be added as well.