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AFU Annual Report - 2018
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This document is the Annual Report for 2018 from the Archives for the Unexplained (AFU), a Swedish non-profit foundation dedicated to preserving and archiving materials related to UFOs and paranormal phenomena. The report details the foundation's activities, financial status,…
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This document is the Annual Report for 2018 from the Archives for the Unexplained (AFU), a Swedish non-profit foundation dedicated to preserving and archiving materials related to UFOs and paranormal phenomena. The report details the foundation's activities, financial status, collections, and personnel throughout the year.
The AFU Foundation
The Archives for the Unexplained (AFU) is a Swedish non-profit foundation operating under the control of authorized auditors (KPMG Group) and official supervision by the Östergötland County Administrative Board. The foundation underwent a re-registration and re-naming process, finalized on June 7, 2018, to become registered under a new name. The formal Swedish registration is Stiftelsen Arkivet för det Oförklarade (AFU), with the tax registration number 825002-9215. Previously, the organization was known as Archives for UFO Research (AFU), with the acronym AFU existing since 1973 and the foundation established in 1980.
The board of directors for 2018 included Clas Svahn (chairman), Håkan Blomqvist (vice chairman), Anders Liljegren (treasurer and archivist), and Carl-Anton Mattsson (substitute member). An associated International Advisory Board (IAB) was also appointed, comprising Johan Gustavsson, Andreas Ohlsson, and Tobias Lindgren from Sweden, along with Ole Brænne (Oslo), Robert J.M. Rickard (London), and Isaac Koi (London).
AFU is a member of the FA (Folkrörelsernas Arkivförbund) and ÖLFA (Östergötlands Arkivförbund), national and regional organizations for archival institutions.
Funding
The foundation's funding in 2018 came from several sources:
a) A group of regularly returning paying sponsors, primarily Swedish.
b) Irregular but substantial gifts from benefactors and bequests.
c) Government subsidies for job-training positions to help cover salaries.
d) Income from sales of publicity rights and second-hand materials, particularly from the AFU Shop.
The foundation applied for support from several private funds in Sweden and abroad but did not receive positive results in 2018. The general tendency observed is that funds often deny further support when approached again, and many have strict rules that make it difficult to fit the foundation's needs. Finding funds willing to support low-profile archival institutions, especially those dealing with paranormal subjects often regarded with stigma, is challenging. Due to these difficulties, AFU is planning a crowdfunding campaign for 2019.
Significant economic contributions were received during the year, including 112,830 SEK from the estate of the late Peter Rogerson, 79,597 SEK from chairman Clas Svahn, and 43,031 SEK from Carl-Anton Mattsson. The national organization UFO-Sweden contributed 39,321 SEK, and board member Anders Liljegren donated 38,381 SEK. Other notable contributors included Eva Sundler Malmnäs, UFO historian Tom Tulien (USA), IT/server wizard Göran Norlén, long-time archivist Sven Olov Svensson, Acke Svensson, and Bertil Lindkvist.
The total sum of donations received was 325,402 SEK to bank accounts, plus an additional 126,207 SEK through hand-to-hand collections organized by Clas Svahn, which directly covered costs for acquisition and transport of new collections.
Sponsorships
Regular sponsorships (monthly, quarterly, or annual) contribute significantly to the foundation's 13 basement facilities, though they do not cover all costs. Increasing costs for facilities to house collections and rising electricity expenses necessitate continuous efforts to recruit more regular sponsors and patrons.
Financial Situation and Economy
A record total of 140,100 SEK (USD 15,000) was spent on acquiring collections and shipping them to AFU headquarters. Previously accumulated donations, invested in share and interest funds, were sold during the year to offset substantial losses incurred in 2018. To sustain daily operations, including facility rents, personnel salaries, and archive maintenance, 154,363 SEK (about USD 17,000) was withdrawn from the foundation's accumulated share funds. At the end of 2018, the remaining share and interest funds had a market value of 331,334 SEK. At the current rate, the economy is projected to deplete within two to three years without substantial changes or work reduction.
Facilities and Shelving
In March, AFU purchased an additional 64 meters of effective shelving from IKEA, which was installed in various facilities. This purchase, weighing 350 kilos, arrived by lorry on March 26. AFU has a long-standing relationship with IKEA, utilizing their Billy bookcases and Ivar shelving systems for easy expansion and integration of collections.
With the new shelving, AFU began establishing a new international archive section for non-Scandinavian preserved collections in the same facility that houses the Spanish CEI collection. In late 2018, UFO-Sweden decided to support AFU by renting a new facility starting January 1, 2019. This facility, located in Norrköping, will be the 14th AFU and UFO-Sweden facility and will be used to store exhibitions, museum items, and growing science fiction collections. The added cost will be approximately 950 SEK per month.
Personnel
In the spring of 2018, AFU employed its largest number of salaried personnel to date: six individuals, all supported by subsidies from the Swedish Public Employment Service. These employees included Leif and Irene (digitizing), Kerstin (libraries), Susanne (web shop), Peter (facilities and transports), and Kenth (audio digitizing).
However, several long-term government schemes designed to employ long-time unemployed individuals were abolished by politicians. Consequently, many employees were expected to end their terms with AFU in 2019, despite the organization's need for their resources. From July 2019, subsidies will be limited, requiring AFU to seek new income and financial resources.
In addition to salaried staff, AFU also employed regular volunteers, including Sven Olov (logistics), Johan (report archives), Anci (clipping files), Ingrid (library catalogue), and Anders (magazine catalogue, daily administration, planning, and visitor guiding).
Collections and Donations
AFU received a significant donation from the estate of deceased ufologist Peter Rogerson, comprising over 6,000 unique books covering a broad range of "phenomenal themes." John Rimmer also facilitated the transfer of other books from Rogerson's collection, with proceeds going to AFU. This donation, directed by Rogerson's will, greatly aided AFU's financial situation.
Collection tours were undertaken in 2018. Clas Svahn's first tour to the European continent and British Isles involved visiting Bob Rickard's house in London, where material is consolidated. He also visited Manchester to collect books from Peter Rogerson's former residence. Janet Walkey in Poulton-le-Fylde donated books and magazines from ufologist Peter Hough's home. Lionel Beer in Hampton provided materials from Eileen (Buckle) Lloyd's estate, and also lent rare BUFORA documents for scanning. John Hanson in Alvechurch, author of the "Haunted Skies" series, also contributed to the archives.
Busty Taylor in Andover, Hampshire, a crop circle researcher, decided to donate his entire files to AFU. Irene at AFU has been busy digitizing Busty's extensive collection of crop circle pictures. A second UK collection tour in October involved visiting the parents of deceased crop circle researcher Paul Vigay, Paul Fuller, and Jan Delgado (daughter of Pat Delgado). Busty Taylor also returned digitized crop circle pictures. Veteran UFO researcher Jimmy Goddard donated his magazines "Amskaya" and "Touchstone." The tour also included visits to the families of deceased donors Hilary Evans and Omar Fowler.
Other significant acquisitions include:
- BSRF Files: Contact was initiated with Tom Brown regarding his files, situated in New Zealand. The Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (BSRF), founded in 1945, has a history of leadership including N. Meade Layne, Riley Crabb, and Thomas J. "Tom" Brown. The bulk of BSRF files, packed by Clas Svahn and his sons, were donated by James Borges.
- Pallet Shipment: A complicated shipment of a pallet from Tauranga, New Zealand, via Singapore, Rotterdam, and Gothenburg, arrived in Norrköping. This freight involved multiple transports and container ships.
- Jörgen Bengtsson's Collection: Following the death of Swedish skeptic-ufologist Jörgen Bengtsson, 21 boxes of his materials were donated to AFU, thanks to his friend Tony Ekberg. This collection includes numerous printouts of internet documents from around 1995.
- Thomas Götling's Donation: Several bags of UFO and space-related books collected by Thomas Götling's deceased father were donated.
- Norwegian Archives: Efforts continued to create a comprehensive file of Norwegian UFO cases, building on previous contributions from Knut Aasheim and Ole Brænne. Ole Brænne also sent seven boxes of materials, including the final parts of the Norwegian report archive and clippings, along with a hard drive of digitized reports.
- Sven Andersson's Collection: Upon the death of Sven Andersson, a long-time friend of the AFU board, his extensive book collection and cartoon-like artworks were acquired.
- Rick Hilberg's Files: US ufologist Rick Hilberg confirmed his intention to donate his files to AFU.
Other Archives Received
In November-December 2017, a process began to acquire the files of Tom Brown, former editor of BSRF, from his home in New Zealand. The BSRF, founded in 1945, has a long history in UFO research. The acquisition of Tom Brown's part of the BSRF files significantly added to the collected BSRF tradition, which was then organized and partly digitized by Håkan Blomqvist. The bulk of the BSRF files had been packed by Clas Svahn and his sons in California in 2016 after being donated by James Borges.
In January, AFU organized the complicated shipment of a pallet from Tauranga, New Zealand, via Singapore, Rotterdam, and Gothenburg to Norrköping. This freight involved two lorry transports and three different container ships. The load arrived in mid-April and was integrated with previous BSRF files. Håkan Blomqvist spent most of 2018 digitizing correspondence files, while Anders Liljegren catalogued magazines, books, and manuscripts. Final arrangement and boxing up of the files were expected in 2019.
Following the death of Swedish skeptic-ufologist Jörgen Bengtsson in February, 21 heavy boxes of materials from his flat arrived at AFU, largely due to his friend Tony Ekberg. The material was sorted and integrated into the AFU collection, creating 25 dedicated archival boxes for Jörgen Bengtsson. Bengtsson had a practice of printing internet documents, much of which is no longer digitally available.
On May 8, Thomas Götling donated several bags of UFO and space-related books collected by his deceased father.
Book & Magazine Libraries
During 2018, AFU catalogued a total of 2,744 new titles and editions in its database. The largest collections catalogued were from Peter Rogerson (847), the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (BSRF) (561), Alvar Appeltoffts stiftelse (294), Jörgen Bengtsson (166), Clas Svahn (106), Ole Braenne (106), Bertil Falk (105), Bob Rickard (87), Sven Andersson (85), John Rimmer (45), Kjell Thörnlund (40), Leif Rasmussen (32), Ernst Linder (29), Nigel Watson (23), Thomas Götling (12), and Paul Sieveking (11). Approximately twenty other individuals and groups contributed to the archives. A new book catalogue in Excel format was planned for early 2020.
A substantial number of magazines were catalogued in the magazine database. A project was initiated at the end of 2018 to catalogue all digital holdings of magazines and newsletters, parallel to paper volumes, to effectively measure the number of available digital issues.
Visitors at the Archives
The year began with a visit from Frank and Katrin Tautermann from Germany on January 4. They visited family in Stockholm and drove to Norrköping, with Frank expressing his admiration for the archive: "Ich wollte das Archiv seit vielen Jahren sehen, es ist grossartig!" (I have wanted to see the archive for many years, it is great!).
On January 20, a group of visitors, mainly members of the Swedish Tidäng family, visited the archives.
An interview with AFU chairman Clas Svahn was published in the local newspaper Norrköpings Tidningar on February 9, detailing the organization's work, challenges, and future hopes.
On February 12, Tadashi Kosaku from Tokyo, Japan, made a rare visit to examine the collection of old Japanese UFO magazines and newsletters. He brought Japanese publications for the archives and took some rare doubles of Japanese publications from the 1950s and 1960s in exchange.
On March 15, a group of six people connected with a culture society at the University of Linköping visited. On March 19, a crew from a US television production company, including producer Taymour El-Alfy, visited to record scenes for a documentary. The previous day, they had interviewed Clas Svahn in Stockholm.
On March 28-29, two archivist colleagues from the Stichting Het Johan Bergmann Fonds (HJBF) in the Netherlands, Wim Kramer and Selma Hofstra, visited. They work with preserving parapsychology and esoteric collections and had donated approximately twenty boxes of books and magazines in 2017.
On April 18, Jacek Smolicki from Poland visited as part of a "sound art project," collecting sounds from various environments. He was impressed by the commitment and systematic approach of the archive.
On May 2, Canadian ufologist Grant Cameron, accompanied by Danish exopolitics activist Pia Knudsen and colleagues, visited. Cameron described AFU as the best archive he had visited globally and donated five of his books.
On May 9, Anita Karlsteen, Maria Loorents Peterson, and a group of fellow archivists from a local history archive visited the facilities.
In 2018, AFU also hosted visits from several UFO experiencers, including Linda Svensson on July 3, who is the niece of deceased cryptozoologist-ufologist Jan Ove Sundberg.
On July 22, Priit Rifk, an Estonian ufologist, visited and expressed hope for AFU's continued work, offering to collect Estonian materials.
UFO-Sweden organized a field investigation day in Björkvik to find witnesses for a 1989 close encounter, with Johan Gustavsson heading the project from AFU facilities. Johan and Clas were interviewed by local and national media.
On September 10, the film production collective Crazy Pictures visited. The group, known for their thriller "The Unthinkable," is recognized internationally and is exploring ideas for a new film.
On October 10, representatives from the Canadian-international media house "Vice" visited, producing an illustrated web article about the archives.
Digital Collections
AFU's digital collections are becoming as valuable as its paper collections, with the importance of parallel and/or special digital preservation increasing annually. Between 2009 and 2018, AFU augmented its digital files by approximately one million items, including clippings, books, magazines, audio and video recordings, pictures, illustrations, and correspondence. After years of using individual hard drives for backup, AFU acquired a 12-disc Synology NAS unit (AFUNAS) for centralized storage, accessible over the internet to a select group.
To supplement the NAS unit and mitigate the risk of data loss due to fire or flood, a second backup entity was planned and acquired through a donation of 35,000 SEK from Carl-Anton Mattsson. This second Synology unit was installed in a separate facility, providing a secondary backup updated nightly. AFU is now self-sufficient in data storage.
Work progressed on digitizing pictures, with over 10,000 pictures (1,000 Gbyte) stored in Synology's Photo Station software, searchable by descriptions and grouped by paranormal themes. The aim is to store high-resolution representations of each picture. Employee Irene worked on this project for most of the year but left in December when subsidies ended.
Digital collections of magazines saw significant advancement through international coordination led by advisory board member Isaac Koi, aiming to make digital versions of important and rare sources available. Anders Liljegren catalogued and uploaded magazine collections to AFUNAS.
Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance
The report consistently emphasizes the critical importance of preserving historical UFO and paranormal materials for future research. It highlights the challenges faced in securing funding and the reliance on dedicated individuals and organizations for support. The ongoing digitization efforts underscore AFU's commitment to making its vast collections accessible and secure. The report also reflects a proactive approach to outreach and collaboration, evidenced by the numerous visits from researchers, institutions, and media outlets. The editorial stance is one of dedication to the archival mission, acknowledging the unique and often stigmatized nature of its subject matter while striving for professional standards and long-term sustainability.
This document details the ongoing digitization efforts and financial operations of the AFU (Archives for the Unexplained) organization, focusing on the AFU Magazine and the AFU Shop.
Digitization Projects Diego Zuniga is contributing to the base of available digital magazines. The digitization work has resulted in approximately 22,500 magazine issues now available in digital format. A comprehensive list, including about 80,000 magazines on paper and the 22,500 digital issues side-by-side, is scheduled for release with the 2019 AFU Magazine listing in the spring of 2019.
Anders Liljegren actively searches the mediearkivet.se website for newly published articles on UFOs, ufology, and general paranormal subjects. The digital copies are distributed on a limited scale via an "afu-clippings" mailing list and are also saved on an internal NAS server. These are copyrighted materials and cannot be freely shared on download pages but can be consulted by contacting the archives.
Lars Liedström from Uppsala volunteers his time digitizing VHS tapes, a project that is progressing slowly, with an estimated output of about 50 tapes per year.
AFU Shop Operations and Financials The AFU Shop plays a crucial role in funding the organization's activities. While the chairman's salary is covered by the Swedish government through unemployment subsidies, income generated by the shop is transferred monthly from a PayPal account to cover the foundation's net part (65%) of the salary paid for digitization work. The AFU Shop continuously sponsors the digitization efforts for the benefit of the UFO-fortean-paranormal community.
In 2018, the sale of books and magazines generated a net income of approximately 135,000 SEK (USD 15,000), which is described as a very essential contribution to the AFU economy. The shop boasts hundreds of customers in 27 countries, including China and Japan. The second annual "White Weekend" sale in November was a significant success.
The AFU Shop has, over its five years of operation, built a core group of faithful and returning customers. The "White Weekend" sale in November provides customers with an increased opportunity to purchase items relevant to their interests and research. The shop has largely covered its costs for digitization projects, with donated surplus materials finding new owners and generating income for preservation and dissemination to future generations, creating a "win-win situation."
To streamline operations, a customer account system with the Swedish postal services (PostNord) was implemented to facilitate pre-payment of stamps, envelopes, and shipment boxes. Sales have been made globally, with the first sale to China completed this year.