The Psychical Research Archives Endowment Fund (PRAEF) was established at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, in November 2012. The fund is intended to support the acquisition, preservation and use of archival materials relating to psychical research and, when there is adequate funding, to support underfunded areas of research within the field. The fund’s primary focus is protection of archives and libraries that document the ostensible macro-psychokinetic (macro-PK) phenomena that occur among groups of people, sometimes spontaneously with so-called psychic superstars or poltergeist agents, and frequently among sitter groups meeting for the express purpose of studying such phenomena.
The term “psychical research” was chosen over “survival research” to promote inclusiveness of explanations of physical psychic phenomena beyond those suggested by the spirit survival hypothesis. This is consistent with the founding statement of the Society for Psychical Research (1882): "to examine without prejudice or prepossession and in a scientific spirit those faculties of man, real or supposed, which appear to be inexplicable on any generally recognized hypothesis." The fund’s scope includes survival research, psychic (spiritual) healing as demonstrated through psychic surgery and hands-on healing modalities, and other types of anomalistic research.
With an initial endowment of $20,000, the fund will generate income (about 4% per year) to fund archival projects to preserve, arrange, and describe archival and library material relevant to study in the field of psychical research. It is hoped that the fund principal will grow so that the annual income can fund experiments into the physical phenomena of the séance room, as well as spontaneous phenomena.
The fund will be administered by a three-member Advisory Committee comprised of the University Archivist (Committee Chair as Head of the Department of Archives & Special Collections), the fund creator, and a second University of Manitoba faculty member. The fund creator will provide direction with respect to archival and library acquisitions and to awarding of grants for project work, and ensure that the fund is used to promote serious study and not co-opted by any individual intent on stifling research into anomalous phenomena. Eventually, that role will be assumed by another individual with a good knowledge of psychical research and physical phenomena who has demonstrated a positive interest in the field.(1)
Will you join the fund creator in promoting the preservation of archives and library material relevant to psychic phenomena and the possible relationship to spirit communication and life after death?
Financial contributions to the fund must be made through the University of Manitoba and are eligible for an income tax receipt in both Canada and the United States. To receive a receipt for Canadian tax purposes, please select the fund name from the drop-down list on the University of Manitoba fund-raising page: https://umanitoba.ca/admin/dev_adv/howtogive/donation/index.html
Alternately, Canadian donations may be made by phone (1-204-474-9195) or by mail to University of Manitoba Donor Relations, 179 Extended Education Complex, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2 Canada. Please make your cheque payable to the University of Manitoba and note on the cheque that the funds are intended for the Psychical Research Archives Endowment Fund.
To receive a tax receipt for United States tax purposes, please make your cheque payable to the University of Manitoba Foundation U.S.A. Inc. and include a letter expressing your “wish and desire” that your donation be directed towards the Psychical Research Archives Endowment Fund. Mail your cheque to University of Manitoba Foundation U.S.A. Inc., c/o Ms C. McGahan at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella PC, 22nd floor, IBM Plaza, 330 North Wabash Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611-3607 United States
Endnote 1: Due to the unintentional academic bias against psychical and anomalistic research and even the possibility of psychic phenomena by individuals who consider themselves open-minded scientists, the fund creator has requested in the fund’s Terms of Reference that the three-member Advisory Committee include an external expert who has an in-depth knowledge of the field of psychical research and macro-psychokinetic phenomena. Ideally, that member would have a positive attitude toward the possibility of an as-yet unexplained human ability that may cause objects to move at a distance, or allow for spontaneous healings, psychic surgery, or other inexplicable physical manifestations deemed miracles in societies that attribute them to the work of unseen spirit forces.