…while fandom is often characterized in media studies as a product of mass consumer culture in the twentieth century, the basic practices associated with fandom—idealized connection with a star, strong feelings of memory and nostalgia, use of collecting to develop a sense of self, for example—precede the development of electronic “mass communication” technologies.
Daniel Cavicchi – Loving Music: Listeners, Entertainments, and the Origins of Music Fandom in Nineteenth-Century America
