Archives of the Impossible – Rice University
“Archives of the Impossible” [Formerly the GEM Archives: Gnosticism, Esotericism, and Mysticism] – Rice University, Houston, Texas
- Archives of the Impossible at Fondren Library’s Woodson Research Center (special collections)
From the certificate program within the Religious Studies department of Rice University, founded by the efforts of Jeff Kripal.
Main Collections:
- Jacques F. Vallee –UFOlogist, computer scientist, venture capitalist.
- Whitley Strieber – author of the Communion books detailing his abduction experiences, and his wife and co-author, Anne Strieber.
- Edwin May – research director at Pentagon’s Star Gate project that focused on ESP research.
- Richard Haines – founder of National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP).
- Brenda Denzler – anthropologist and scholar of the paranormal (books and some archival materials).
- Jeffrey Kripal Academic Papers, 1970-2015
- A full run of Fate magazine.
Note below / bottom of page 75 of Jacques Vallee’s Forbidden Science journal volume 4, his 2017 organizing and donation of files to the new Rice University Archives of the Impossible.
At the end of this video you can see Anna Shparberg and Amanda Focke giving a behind the scenes tour of the Rice University “Archives of the Impossible to S. Miles Lewis (Anomaly Archives founder), Blynne Olivieri (Professor & Head of Special Collections at the University of West Georgia), and Clas Svahn (longtime member of the AFU Archives For the Unexplained; formerly Archives for UFO Research).
Archiving the Impossible panel moderated by Anna L. Shparberg, featuring panelists Amanda Focke, Brian Hubner, S. Miles Lewis, Blynne Olivieri, and Clas Svahn.
“Anna L. Shparberg, the Humanities librarian at the Fondren Library at Rice University, moderated the Archiving the Impossible panel discussion on day two of the Archives of the Impossible conference and exhibition that took place at Rice University March 3-6, 2022. Panelists included Brian Hubner, S. Miles Lewis, Blynne Olivieri, Clas Svahn and Amanda Focke.”
