International Wizard of Oz Club

The International Wizard of Oz Club, Inc., was founded during 1957 by Justin G. Schiller, a then thirteen-year-old boy. The sixteen charter members, some of whom continue to make valuable contributions to the club, were garnered from the mailing list found among the papers of the recently deceased Jack Snow, with whom Schiller and the others had discussed the work of L. Frank Baum.

The organization today has hundreds of members from all over the world, including children, adults who were alive when the books were still being published annually, ardent Baumists, Oz collectors, and those interested primarily in the classic MGM movie.

The society's major publication, The Baum Bugle, began with Schiller duplicating issues on his parents' mimeograph machine. It is now published three times a year and has been recognized as a scholarly journal by the Modern Language Association since 1983. It has reached 159 issues as of Winter 2010, and its issues have more than doubled in size over the years, typically running to forty pages plus full-color covers.

Oz Club members originally organized three major conventions a year in the United States (Munchkin (east), Winkie (west), and Ozmopolitan (central). The self-supporting events attracted members in that region of the country. Arriving with car loads of decorations, props, costumes, auction contributions and show-and-tell materials, attendees immersed themselves in a weekend of Ozzy camaraderie. The Convention names usually reflected geographical locations or citizens identified in the Oz books. There are also smaller gatherings, most frequently South Winkie, Quadling, and Gillikin or Ozcanabans. The last group met in the banquet hall of a restaurant in Escanaba, Michigan, home of Fred M. Meyer, a founding member who served for decades as the club's secretary. Meyer also mailed out an annual Christmas card to all members each year, often with ideas for new Oz books, until his health put him at emeritus status that lasted to the end of his life. As large public Oz festivals grew in popularity, IWOC conventions in the Midwest and East Coast lost much of their support base; fans found the guest speakers attractive and the flexible accommodations more affordable. The Ozmopolitan and Munchkin conventions could not be sustained, although the Winkie Convention, re-branded as Oz Con International, in San Diego, California, remains a robust, vibrant fan event attracting attendees from around the world.

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