Materials in the Richard Alf Papers document Alf's various businesses, including his comic book mail order business and store, as well as his involvement with San Diego Comic-Con, the largest comic and pop culture convention in the world. The collection includes correspondence, original artwork, publications, business files, and San Diego Comic-Con materials. The collection is divided into four series: Personal Files, Professional Files, Convention Files, and Audiovisual Recordings.

Richard Alf, a co-founder of Comic-Con, was born in San Diego, California on January 26, 1952. He was an avid comics collector and at the age of twelve, began buying and selling comics through Rocket's Blast Comicollector (RBCC). In 1968, he published and distributed his own list of comics for sale. Two years later, he sold his mail-order business in order to attend the University of California, San Diego (1970-1972), and later San Diego State University (1972-1974).

11.11 Linear Feet

The copyright interests in these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections is such that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine.  Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.

This collection is open for research.  All of the audiovisual materials represented in series IV of the Richard Alf Papers are restricted. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you would like to contribute to the digital transfer of these obsolete formats, please contact Robert Ray, Head of Special Collections and University Archives at rray@rohan.sdsu.edu.