Club

(Did you mean the Cleveland club named CLub?)

After correspondence, the club (or fan club) is the oldest form of fanac, slightly predating the first fanzine.

The first club in fandom's history, was either the Science Correspondence Club, often dismissed as having been, at least nominally, about science rather than sf, or the Scienceers, a New York City local group, while the Scienceers' clubzine, The Comet, is considered by most fanhistorians to have been the first real fanzine.

Fancyclopedia 1 used the term club, which Fancy 2, oddly, changed to fan club but listed under “C.” Fan club (or fanclub) is rarely used now — fans just say club or sf club. This is perhaps because of dislike of the prevalent mundane definition of fan club — a sycophantic group devoted to one particular film, TV show, actor, or, less commonly, writer.

The Enchanted Duplicator is famously dismissive of clubs whose members delude themselves that their internal activities constitute Trufandom, as Jophan encounters first the Circle of Lassitude and later a club whose members are either arguing bitterly or marching pointlessly up and down, both of which try to impede him on his journey.

Clubs are infamously prone to Organization Mania.

See List of clubs.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

FAN CLUB The best fan club is about two feet long, made of hickory or ash, with a ring of sharp steel spikes at the end. It is useful for clearing an escape-route from a smokefilled room and in various other ways which will suggest themselves to the reader. But the organization which we designate by this term is a group of persons who meet face-to-face every so often; the word is often misused. Fan groups actually called clubs include ISFCC, JVPC, Impossible Story Club, and an indefinite number of local groups; quite aside from the colloquial designation of any organized fan group as a "club".

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

An organization of persons who meet in person every so often; the word is often misused. Fan groups with this name include the Impossible Story Club, ICSC, JVPC, WGCC, Outsider's Club, SFCC, Stranger Club, Solaroid Club, and Cosmos Club.