It really depends on what you personally define as furry.
If you are talking about people dressing up in anthropomorphic costumes, or even fursuits, it goes way back.
If you are referring to people going to furry conventions at hotels that have a major shopping room (dealers den) as well as workshops, then of course, it's going to be much more recent (as you're limiting the term furry to convention goers).
People were dressing in animal skins and dancing around fires to invoke the spirit of animals before a hunt, tens of thousands of years ago.
I also know an individual who live in my area, who was dressing up in a full bunny costume back starting in the early 60s. For him and the group he would fursuit with, it was mainly a spin off of the "happenings", "be-in"s, "mime troupe", and performance art/acid tests of the time. But hey, he was running around in a fursuit acting alot like modern day furries, just without the hotel and shopping. (You can find info/pics with a google search of his character's name: Astral-Naught Rabb-Eye , and yup, he still has his original fursuit he'll occasionally wear.)
It really depends on what you personally define as furry.
If you are talking about people dressing up in anthropomorphic costumes, or even fursuits, it goes way back.
If you are referring to people going to furry conventions at hotels that have a major shopping room (dealers den) as well as workshops, then of course, it's going to be much more recent (as you're limiting the term furry to convention goers).
People were dressing in animal skins and dancing around fires to invoke the spirit of animals before a hunt, tens of thousands of years ago.
I also know an individual who live in my area, who was dressing up in a full bunny costume back starting in the early 60s. For him and the group he would fursuit with, it was mainly a spin off of the "happenings", "be-in"s, "mime troupe", and performance art/acid tests of the time. But hey, he was running around in a fursuit acting alot like modern day furries, just without the hotel and shopping. (You can find info/pics with a google search of his character's name: Astral-Naught Rabb-Eye , and yup, he still has his original fursuit he'll occasionally wear.)