1946 Fall, Tom Jewett, Startling Stories, volume 14, number 2, page 102:
Nowadays a letter-hack says things simply, which is, after all, the best way. Take any good story. You don't find long, stilted sentences with long-winded descriptions (which was one reason I put ‘The Dimension of Chance’ last). So listen and learn, letter-hacks.
1955 Summer, Ted E. White, “The Vizigraph”, in Planet Stories[1], volume 6, number 11, page 92:
Really, I seem to have reversed things a little by being a letter-hack after becoming an actifan.
1958, Ralph Merridette Holland, Ghu's Lexicon, page 12:
LETTERHACK - An actifan who specializes in writing letters for zines. One of the simplest and yet the most effective phases of fanac. Give the letterhack a ream of paper, stamps, and one or two other letterhacks for him to argue with, and he will keep happy and tractable for months.
1963 May 20, Ron Bennett, “Who's Who in British Fandom No. 2: Jimmy Groves”, in Skyrack[2], number 54:
In America he has probably been best known outside OMPA as a Cry letter-hack during that golden period of two to three years ago when all sorts of strange Englishmen were invading the sanctity of Wally Weber’s domain.
1979, “About the Authors”, in David Gerrold, editor, Starlog's Science Fiction Yearbook[3], volume 1, page 106:
Since then he has been most active as a letter-writer to numerous fanzines where his work has won him three consecutive Fanzine Achievement Awards as top letterhack.
1992 April 15, Dara Naraghi, “Re: MISC: DC:Whatever happened to....?”, in rec.arts.comics[4] (Usenet), message-ID <1992Apr15.141123.12356@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>:
T.M. Maple is actually Jim Burke, famous Canadian letterhack. He officially retired last year. To the best of my knowledge, he still appears at the San Diego Con in the letterhack panel with fellow scribes Malcolm Bourne, Charlie Harris and Elizabeth Holden.
1996 April 18, Chris Juricich, “Who Reads Letters Columns?”, in rec.arts.comics.misc[5] (Usenet), message-ID <jakers-1804960817540001@ppp060-sf1.sirius.com>:
I'll admit, back in the mid 70s when I was a minor letterhack of some repute at DC, I always read the letters columns to check for my letters being published. Now, twenty years later, with the newsgroups, I'm much less inclined to write LOCs.
1998 March 7, Kim Huett, TommyWorld[6], number 35:
Anyway, while I[sic] correcting you I must point out that Andy isn't putting any real 'new spin' and[sic] the FAAN Awards. The first version of the FAANs included a category for letterhack and during the early Sixties a best new fan award was made for a while though I don't know any details about this beyond seeing several people, such as Bob Leman, being named as such.
2001 November, Lloyd Penney, “Letters”, in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly[7], number 11, page 35:
Mah heartstrings went *twang* reading the first half of Ted White's article. For, this is the way I feel...I really enjoy getting mail, and writing, and sending mail. This is the life cycle of a letterhack, I guess, but I do enjoy it.
2002 July 15, George Grattan, “Re: Lettercolumns of Yore (70s and 80s)”, in rec.arts.comics.marvel.universe[8] (Usenet), message-ID <B9589D8C.1E01C%gratone@rcn.com>:
In one of the JLA lettercols that former letterhack Tamsyn O'Flynn (always loved that name) edited after s/he began working at DC, there's an excited announcement from Tamsyn than another letterhack was turning pro and would soon have her first Batgirl story published: Barbara Randall (now Kesel).
1974, Paul Linden, “The Ackermonster Strikes Again”, in Famous Mounters Convention Magazine[9], page 20:
Forry's was the first fan letter published in the first issue of Science Wonder Quarterly, 1929. It was the prototype of the "gosh-wow-boy-o-boy" letterhacking school of "criticism" later to be derided by Damon Knight, James Blish, Alexei Panshin and critics of their stature, but for Forry, in 1961, on the occasion of the celebration of Amazing Stories' 35th Anniversary, it was one of the happiest moments of his life to leave his place between Hugo Gernsback and Frank R. Paul, the two greatest inspirators of his life, long enough to stand before the crowd of celebrants in Newark, N.J., and read aloud to the Father of Science Fiction the words of praise he had written him in 1929.
1976 November, Ted White, “Twenty Five Years? That's--”, in Science-Fiction Five-Yearly[10], number 6, page 23:
It was in those letter columns that I was first exposed to the concept of fandom. Letterhacking was in high bloom in 1951; the letter columns were filled with chatty letters from all sorts of people, the names of whom I soon came to recognize.
1993 July 20, Jacob Huebert, “Letterhacking”, in rec.arts.comics.misc[11] (Usenet), message-ID <22h7t8$qf9@news.ysu.edu>:
If you are one, where have you been published? I'm rather new at letterhacking, but I do have four letters printed that I know of: Groo #79 (or close), Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #5 (won the lettercol title contest. =), Detective #665, and Shadow of the Bat #15.
2001 March 6, Bill Williams, “Re: Discussion Log for Heinlein Readers Group 3-01-2001 meeting now available”, in alt.fan.heinlein[12] (Usenet), message-ID <eDulOgXi8QRgPB3=w6IX2Np0GGdH@4ax.com>:
I've been active in science fiction fandom, however, for over thirty years. I've letterhacked, APAhacked, written critical review out the kazoo, published my own 'zines, authored a couple of published short stories, drawn fillos, screwed around in the most damnable round-robins, and I've been messing around in Web fora for about five years
2006 June 21, Christopher J. Garcia, “BayCon: The Fanzine Lounge”, in Science Fiction/San Francisco[13], number 24, page 5:
I bought them at BASFA auctions, I picked them up from friends, I even LetterHacked more specifically so I could get more and more fanzines to add to the pile.