AFU - more than UFO

As a young and very enthusiastic ufologist of 20 years, in 1972, I wrote my first editorial in the newsletter of our local UFO group in Södertälje. Although somewhat naive and overly idealistic the editorial is an appeal to study not just UFO reports but many other subjects necessary to understand the scope and depth of the enigma. Here is a short quote from the newsletter: "Studying UFO is not just a hobby or pastime. It is an education. To get a better understanding of the problem you also have to study topics like astronomy, physics, ancient cultures, philosophy, parapsychology a.o.".

Your blogger as a teenage UFO enthusiast, January 1971

This appeal or idea has today taken a very concrete form in the two AFU libraries. One contains basically UFO and Forteana while, what we have named, the Evans Library houses the unique and extensive collection donated by Hilary Evans in 2010. Here you can find religion, philosophy, folklore, psychology, parapsychology, paranormal phenomena, esotericism, spiritualism, secret societies - often old and rare volumes in English, French och German. The collection is a treasure trove for academic students of History of  Religion, Psychology of Religion, History of Ideas, Folklore and many other disciplines. But of course also a valuable library aviable to all Swedish ufologists and Forteans who want unusual data or expand their intellectual horizon. Maybe Hilary Evans had a precognition that his library would one day find its way to Norrköping when he visited AFU in 1996.

Hilary Evans visiting AFU October 7, 1996

I have spent a couple of evenings perusing the shelves in the Evans library. Most of the collection has now been unpacked from the boxes and catalogued by our three ambitious AFU co-workers Ingrid, Katarina and Helena. As a librarian I find it a pure joy to study all the fascinating titles and I decided to take some photographs of the premises and collections so that you blog readers can get a small estimation of this unique collection. Enjoy the show!