Author: Oz Admin
Balloons, Airships, and Ozoplanes: Fanciful Flights Above and Around Oz
L. Frank Baum launched his most famous heroine into the air in the first chapter of the first Oz book. Since then, a fantastic array of characters and vehicles has populated the Ozian skies. Please ensure that your seatbelt is securely fastened as Atticus Gannaway pilots an exploration of how Ozian aeronautics evolved over the course of the series. Atticus Gannaway, senior writer in NYU School of Law’s Office of Communications, is a former editor-in-chief ofThe Baum Bugle and the author of six Oz books, including The Silver Sorceress of Oz (Books of Wonder, 2002). The recipient of the 2012 L. Frank Baum Memorial Award, he has written major research articles about about Oz illustrators Frank Kramer and Dick Martin and is currently working on a book about how Baum and his publishers turned Oz into a cultural phenomenon.
Copper and Tin: The Life and Adventures of Two Metal Men
Judy Bieber is a Professor of History at the University of New Mexico. Her day job consists of teaching and research about the history of Spanish America and Brazil. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the history, meaning, and wonder of the Oz books and the life and era of L. Frank Baum. This presentation extends her fascination with the depiction of gender roles and magical states of being in Baum’s Oz books. The Tin Woodman identifies with his formerly human self, which motivates his quest to regain a heart. He considers himself to be alive. Tik Tok is resolutely mechanical, animated rather than living, with no desire to be anything else, or so he says. Both, however, demonstrate qualities of human kindness and gentle masculinity that are more similar than they are different. Baum eventually would feature each as protagonist in Tik-Tok of Oz (1914) and The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918). Do metal men possess special characteristics that flesh-and-blood Ozians lack? This question and more will be answered in this deep dive about two of Baum’s most beloved, enduring creations. Judy has been active in the Oz Club since childhood, having joined the International Wizard of Oz Club in 1977. She has served on the IWOC board of directors, and has published articles and book reviews in the Baum Bugle. At IWOC conventions, she has delivered presentations about Baum’s pseudonymous works, gender representations in the Oz books, among others. Judy enjoys learning how to use old things, from vintage cameras to treadle sewing machines. She is excited to attend her first Teslacon.
Above the White City: An Aerial View of the 1893 World’s Fair
Join aeronaut O. Z. Diggs for a sky-high tour of the wondrous World’s Fair of 1893. We’ll take a bird’s eye view of the fairgrounds and swoop down into the White City (have your colored spectacles ready!) to peek inside some of the grand exhibition palaces. Prepare to be amazed by marvelous machinery, enchanting electricity, and fabulous flora. Hold on tight as we ascend above the raucous Midway Plaisance by balloon and dream about sky-scraping observation towers before riding on one shaped like a giant “O.” You may well believe yourself transported to the land of the fairies! At night, we’ll ride up to the top of the world’s largest building to see rainbow-colored fountains and messages written on the clouds as if by magic. Scott Cummings is an independent researcher who publishes worldsfairchicago1893.com, an educational website devoted to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. When not exploring the White City, he has served on the Board of Directors of the International Wizard of Oz Club and as editor-in-chief of its journal. He writes articles and presents talks on a wide range of topics, including renewable energy, obscure theater shows, author L. Frank Baum, and the history of the Chicago fairgrounds. He presented talks on the 1893 World’s Fair for the Chicago Steampunk Exposition in 2024 and 2025.
Origins of Oz: Suffrage and the White City
Break out your Votes for Women sash, don your green glasses, and join Chris Glasgow, Curator of the Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas, for a look at two profound influences on L. Frank Baum’s vision of Oz. Chris has been the Curator for the OZ Museum/Columbian Theatre Foundation in Wamego, Kansas for more than 8 years. Coming from a background in public school teaching, and a love of reading, film and theater arts, Chris has a thirst to learn history, research, facilitate, and share what she learns with others. Her life long skills have prepared her well for her curation position, allowing her to increase scholarly knowledge and provide outreach for the Oz community and beyond. Chris has also been active the last 4+ years with the Humanities Kansas program, providing state wide presentations to non-profit groups about Oz, L Frank Baum, his mother-in-law suffragist leader Matilda Joslyn Gage, and other related topics. On behalf of the historic Columbian Theatre, her presentations both in and outside of Kansas share history about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, with its unique connection to the World of Oz. For TeslaCon Chris offers a presentation outlining how both Gage and the White City helped lead Baum to dream of an Emerald City thriving in the heart a utopian society run by women. Originally from Ohio, Chris Glasgow has lived in 28 states, raised 5 children as a single mom while completing a theater Arts degree in college and Museum Studies coursework. She continues to travel across the US and the world, learning about new cultures with a focus on literature, theater and film.
Join the Conversation; Oz Book Panels with Ryan Bunch
Ryan Bunch President of the International Wizard of Oz Club, joins TeslaCon to moderate book discussion panels about the book that started it all, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Thursday 11:30am) and The Patchwork Girl of Oz (Friday 2:30pm), which was chosen as a focus story for this 2026 convention. These interactive discussions will combine expertise from Oz Club members, with opportunity for audience discussion. Come expecting to hear what you already know and what you never knew (He’ll also team up with Te Craft to present “Music Milestones in Oz,” but we’ll blog about that another time.) Active in the Oz Club since he won his first Oz convention quiz at age 11, Ryan is an engaging and knowledgeable presenter on a wide range of Oz topics. He’s an academic writer who happens to know his way around a piano, so he’s often pressed into duty as accompanist for live music. He has performed for us as both actor and puppeteer. To stage his own puppet version of Buratino in the Emerald City, Ryan once made puppets, wrote music and songs, and performed in the show; the story was based on Leonid Vladimirsky’s obscure 1996 Russian children’s book that brought Pinocchio to Oz. More recently Ryan, with his husband Micah Mahjoubian, cochaired Oz: the National Convention 2016 in Philadelphia. That event found him partnering with local arts organizations for programming, and organizing tours that visited sites associated with Oz creators Ruth Plumly Thompson, John R. Neill, W.W. Denslow, Charles Santore, and Maxfield Parrish, and otherwise filling four days with Oz content for fans. Ryan’s own book, Oz and the Musical: Performing the American Fairy Tale, was published by Oxford University Press in 2023, the same year he received his Ph.D. in the Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers-University Camden. The book discusses Oz musicals from the 1902 Oz stage version to Wicked, with numerous stops along the way, including the MGM film version, The Wiz, Oz Club productions, and the Land of Oz theme park on Beech Mountain, North Carolina. Ryan received the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award in 2024. He currently teaches music studies at Temple University in Philadelphia.
The Master Key (1901): L. Frank Baum’s Electrical Fairy Tale
Author L. Frank Baum supported his son Robert’s fascination with electricity with interest and pride. An emerging technology in 1901, the 14-year-old was eager to explore its power through his home experiments, and dreamed of the impact it might have on society. Within the household, evidence of the young teen’s hobby took two directions: Rob built electrical machines, and his father wrote a book. The Master Key: An Electrical Fairy Tale, Founded Upon the Mysteries of Electricity and the Optimism of Its Devotees was dedicated to Rob, and features a boy named Rob, likely modeled after the author’s son. The novel has protagonist Rob accidentally touch electricity’s master key. The genie-like Daemon of Electricity appears, promising to bring him a series of electrical devices over a period of three weeks. One instantly creates food. Another is a wristwatch transportation machine that sends him flying! Young Rob travels the globe with his electrical magic encountering in mankind both good and evil. As much science fiction as fantasy, Baum incorporates historic figures into The Master Key. As in many of his fantasies, some of Baum’s fantastic pieces have come about in the 125 years since this novel was published. For example, an “Illimitable Communicator” enables a person, wherever they are, to converse with people in any part of the world. In 1901 Ham radio was growing popular, but modern cell phones? They only lived in the vivid imaginations of those like Frank and Rob Baum. Presented by Carrie Hedges Carrie Hedges entered Oz through the MGM film as a young child. Once she learned to read—and found Oz books at her local library—she was hooked. Her local librarian signed her up for membership in The International Wizard of Oz Club. Sixty-two years later, she’s led conventions, spoken and performed at events, and served seven years as Oz Club President. Carrie’s presentation for TeslaCon began when she co-chaired a 2001, “2001: A Space Ozdyssy” convention exploring the influence Oz has had on science fiction. From her presentation at the convention, she developed an article, “The Master Key: Its Electrical Origins,” which was published in the Winter 2001 Baum Bugle, Vol. 45, No. 3. Professionally, Carrie began her career as an assistant editor on the American Bar Association Journal. She was graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology/Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1983, and was a law clerk in 1984-85 for the Honorable Alfred T. Goodwin of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena, California. She then returned to Chicago, the birthplace of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and worked as a guardian ad litem, representing abused and neglected children, at the Juvenile Court of Cook County. Carrie recently retired from a 20-year stint as a Staff Attorney with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Carrie also served 23 years on the Board of the Chicago Children’s Choir, an organization that reaches almost 3,000 children in the Chicago area. She’s currently persuing a second career as a cabaret singer. After all, when you live in the Land of Oz, nothing is impossible.
Hotel reservations to open May 26 at 1pm central
Our plan for Oz the National Convention 2026 bring us to TeslaCon, an annual Steampunk convention, that’s adopted Oz as it’s 2026 theme. We’re attending–and bringing programming with us–but TeslaCon manages all the logistics. Hotels are a big part of that, and a convention this large takes for of them. They have just posted notice that room reservations can be booked beginning Tuesday, May 26. Take a minute now to figure out which hotel works best for you (rate, location, amenities) so your decision is made in advance. Then be ready to go; rooms in all four hotels sell out quickly. Here’s the info as producer Eric Jon Larson jshared it on the TeslaCon Fans Facebook page: Here it is- the moment you ALL have been waiting for. ROOM DAY! Tuesday the 26th, at 1pm central time. We will post the links on the website page up front and also here on Facebook at 1pm. *You must book at least 3 nights- Thursday-Friday-Saturday nights. We have cushioned it to go earlier and until Monday. *Suites are part of regular rooms and there are only 28 of them available. *You cannot call the hotel for bookings, they cannot help. You must go through the link. There is no booking early. *If a mistake is made, wait 24 hours and call reservations to correct it. YOU must get a conformation #. Without this, we cannot help you if there is an issue. Make sure you get one! TUESDAY, MAY 26th, 1pm Central Time, 2pm Eastern, 12pm Mountain, and 11am Pacific time. The link to hotel information is in the navigation at the top of the TeslaCon website. Here’s a direct link so you can learn more about them before reservations open: https://teslacon.com/hotels/ If you’ve not yet bought your $80 ticket, now’s a good time! https://teslacon.com/tickets/ This year, the TeslaCon Explorer’s and Adventurers (T.E.A.) Society offers a weekend-long Patchwork Girl themed immersive quest that sounds like great fun. You may want to “add on” this optional T.E.A Society Game for an extra $25. Blogs about the convention are posted here regularly. Check back over the months ahead for details about Oz Club presentations and presenters we’re bringing to the weekend, as well as more general TeslaCon activities.
Baum’s Own Oz films at TeslaCon
Author L. Frank Baum moved to “Hollywood” while it was still a quiet little Southern California community. Film making was in its infancy. Gathering a circle of friends for financial backing, he launched The Oz Film Manufacturing Company in 1914. Three of the films he created will be shown at TeslaCon 2026: His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, and The Magic Cloak of Oz. Watch the schedule for days and times. Nate Barlow will introduce each film. Currently a member of the International Wizard of Oz Club’s Board of Directors, Nate is a life-long fan of Oz and an award-winning film producer who recently turned his attention to Baum’s films. In 2024 he restored the company’s His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz from three 35mm prints, including two reels of original picture negative long believed lost that he rediscovered at the Library of Congress. He has exhaustively researched the history of The Oz Film Manufacturing Company for a planned book and documentary and has presented segments of this research at conventions and in various articles. Given the TeslaCon 2026 focus on the story of The Patchwork Girl of Oz, this particular film—packed with the latest 1914 special effects (!)—you don’t want to miss this opportunity to see how Baum himself brought this story to life on film. Learn more about Nate’s Oz film restoration work at https://natebarlow.com/oz-film-co/
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