From The Harvard Gazette:
Harvard’s Houghton Library recently purchased a copy of “The Star Trek Guide,” an intriguing and often amusing handbook that includes everything that aspiring writers might need to know before crafting a script for the ’60s cult sci-fi television series that spawned several TV sequels, numerous films, countless pop cultural references, and even a complex internal language. The comprehensive manual includes details on the show’s ethos, characters, terminology, spaceship — even its snug-fitting uniforms.
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The 31-page booklet, along with copies of four “Star Trek” scripts, is part of the library’s growing science fiction collection, which includes more than 3,000 volumes, largely 20th-century trade paperbacks, magazines, fanzines, and prozines.
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We have been trying to acquire more in the way of what people generally refer to as popular culture material,” said Leslie Morris, Houghton’s curator of modern books and manuscripts and a longtime “Star Trek” fan.
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Morris suspects that the booklet, a third edition from 1967, is one of many sent to interested scriptwriters as a way for the show’s producers to weed out inappropriate material and “get more suitable submissions.” But in addition to being a writer’s how-to, the red-covered, mimeographed manual offers readers an in-depth look at one of the things that helped make “Star Trek” a cult sensation: its obsessive attention to detail.
Read the Complete Article (Includes Several Images From Guide)
See Also: Catalog Record for Guide
Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry is listed as author.
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