American Society for Psychical Research Inc

Part III line 1 the American society for Psychical Research, INC (ASPR)FOUNDED IN 1885, is the oldest Psychical Research organization in the United States, serving public and professional audiences for more than 130 YEARS. Its mission is to (A) use the scientific method to explore extraordinary or as yet unexplained phenomena that are typically referred to as being psychic or paranormal, AND (B) serve as a resource for accurate and relevant information about such matters to researchers,SCIENTIST, STUDENTS, and scholars and the general public. The ASPR studies how the mind relates to matter, ENERGY, space and time and the unexplained ways conscious beings interconnect with the universe and each other. Part III Line 1 The ASPR was founded by a group of visionary scholars, philosophers and scientist from Harvard and Columbia Universities, including the highly noted psychologist and phiulosopher William James. These founding members, who were devoted to exploring the uncharted realms of human consciousness, were inovators in psychology, Psychiatry, psysics and astronomy, and shared a common interest in studying phenomena not yet explicable by accepted scientific theories. Freud and Jung were honary members of the ASPR. Leading thinkers and luminaries from a wide range of disciplines have been drawn to the ASPR throughout its history. Part III Line 4a Research, education and public services The ASPR continues to meet the growing need for accurate and relevant information through its Research activities, library and archival resources, public exhibitions, and educational resources and services. From its inception, the ASPR and its members have collected case reports and have researched extraordinary experiences including telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and the question of whether our consciousness may survive death. The ASPR conducts laboratory Research. Experiments examine the relationship of creativity to psychic phenomena, as well as the effects of hypnosis, dreaming, meditation, sensory deprivation and other altered States of consciousness. Part III, Line 4a The Society continues to collect accounts of psychic phenonomena from people around the world.The ASPR aims to serve as an important educational resource on Psychical matters to the general public, including, in particular, to support the education and Research activities of students and scholars from various disciplines. Each year we assist numerous individuals in person, by mail, phone and email. Part III, Line 4bLIBRARY AND ARCHIVES The ASPR maintains the largest and most comprehensive library and archives of its kind in the United States. Its collections span historical and contemporary topics in Psychical Research, as well as relevant information on the earliest history of psychology, Psychiatry, mind-body medicine, American visionary traditions, and both Eastern and Western religious philosophy. The library includes thousands of out-of-print volumes, many of them extremely rare. Part III, Line 4a library and archives The ASPR holds a vast archive of documents, photograghs, drawings, rare manuscripts, reports of experiences,Research data, correspondence, and books that date back to the 1600s. They include original letters of William James, Henry James, W.B. Yeats, Upton Sinclair, Sir Arthur of contemporaryDoyle, and Houdini, as well as the archives scholars. The archives also house numerous special collections including one of the most important collections in America of manuscripts describing Shaker visionary experiences. Part III, Line 4a library and archives The rarity of the archives can be appreciated by noting that the ASPR was previously the recipient of a grant from the National Endownment for the Arts to develop future exhibits. The ASPR has already exhibited portions of its archives in various museums and galaries including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Folk Art Museum, the Maison Europeene de la Photographie, in Paris, the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorate Arts,Design and Culture, and the Drawing Center in New York, as well as the Hammar Gallery in Los Angeles. The ASPR continues to seek out, collect, preserve, protect, duplicate, digitize, and organize these important Research documents for its library and archives.