1990s

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Overview[edit]

On the U.S. east coast, furry fans were gathering at the New York chapter of the C/FO, founded by Ken Sample and friends. Ray Rooney and Major Matt Mason hosted parties in their suite at Philcon in Philadelphia for several years. Philcon eventually hosted the first major Furry art show and dealer's room.

By year in community[edit]

1990[edit]

ConFurence 1 is held as first official furry convention event (Costa Mesa, California in January). 130 attendees arrive for the event.

In September, the Furry Home at Squirrel Hill was established as the first furry commune.

In November, FurryMUCK is established by the residents of the Squirrel Hill house. It becomes a major venue for both furry roleplay and real-life furry event organization.

In December, alt.fan.furry is launched in the Usenet hierarchy, becoming the first permanent newsgroup dedicated to the fandom. The first post is made on December 17 by Alan Taylor[1].

1991[edit]

The earliest possible mention of "furry fandom" in a mainstream media outlet is published by Barbara Brotman in the Chicago Tribune covering Chicon V[2].

1992[edit]

In February, the "First British Furry Micro-Con" is held on the weekend of 1-2 February at Ian Curtis' house.

1994[edit]

In July, UK Fur CON is first held with 15 attendees. Most of the participants had organized the housecon on FurryMUCK, symbolizing a shift in the fandom towards the organization of meets both large and small over the Internet rather than through APAs and fanzine circles.

In 1994, Trish Ny organized Furtasticon, a prototype east coast furry convention at the Holiday Inn, next to the Adam's Mark hotel, Philcon's venue.

1994 is a pivotal for the fandom on the Internet, as the first Web-based furry-specific archives, directories and hosts of media are established, including Lava Dome Five, Fur.com and Tigerden Internet Services.

1995[edit]

Trish Ny went on to found ConFurence East in 1995. Eurofurence is also launched as Germany's (and Europe's) premiere furry convention.

1995 showed a furry fandom that increased in Internet savvy and impacted by recent showings of anthropomorphic characters in major media features of the past year, namely The Lion King; The Lion King Fan-Art Archive and The Lion King MUCK are established to connect fans of the film to each other, as are other properties such as Mia's Index of Anthro' Stories, Internet Furry Proximity Locator, Transformation Story Archive, and VCL, the latter two of which become the first major archives of massively-uploaded furry media. YiffNet, the first furry-oriented IRC network, is also established this year.

1996[edit]

In 1996, at the World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim, California, the Furry Fandom Lounge was organized by the ConFurence committee as five-day furry programming track. The general Worldcon program schedule publicized the furry parties, panels, and exhibits which included a glass-encased "History of Furry Fandom" display by David Bliss.

Between June and September, alt.lifestyle.furry is established as a fork from alt.fan.furry that is catered to the developing demographic of furry lifestylers. The first post to the newsgroup is dated to September 5[3].

Also established are FurRing, Furcadia (which becomes the leading graphical roleplay network of the furry fandom until the mid-2000s), Yerf (the first clean furry archive), Orlando Furry Archives and FurNation.

1997[edit]

In 1997, Anthrocon is first held in Albany, New York and goes on to become the largest furry convention to date.

FANG is established, eventually becoming the premiere kemono-oriented web host in Japan.

1998[edit]

Feral!, which goes on to become the largest furry camping event in the world, and Conifur Northwest are first held.

1999[edit]

In 1999, at the North American Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim, California, the Furry Fandom Lounge reflected on 15 years of fandom. That year also saw the launch of Further Confusion in the Bay Area of San Francisco, CA, which eventually become the second largest furry convention in the world; Furloween becomes the first major meet for Florida furries.

By year in publication[edit]

1990[edit]

In January, Yarf! is established.

1991[edit]

In March, The Tai-Pan Project is started by Whitney Ware and a Seattle writers' group.

In June, the Society of Musteline Arts and Literature (SMAL) started a three-issue fanzine, Touch.

References[edit]

  1. Alan Taylor et. al.. "creation of alt.fan.furry". December 17, 1990. alt.fan.furry.
  2. Barbara Brotman. "Universe of the mind Sci-fi convention a party for the misfits who run the world". Sep 2, 1991.
  3. Kitsuné. "Being Furry in Public". Sep 5 1996, 2:00 am. alt.lifestyle.furry.


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