Fonds A2017-069 - Bernard Grad fonds

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Bernard Grad fonds

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  • Multiple media

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Fonds

Reference code

A2017-069

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Physical description

15.13 m of textual and other records.
2,814 slides (35 mm)
823 photographs
170 glass slides
178 transparencies
ca. 176 negatives
2 contact sheets
96 X-ray film slides
1 watercolour
1 drawing
225 books
185 audio-cassettes
1/4-inch audio tape reels (approx. 3500 feet)
6 record albums
22 VHS cassettes1 DVD
1 U-matic videocassette
5 1/2-inch open reel video tapes (5 inch reels)
16 mm film (approx. 800 feet)
8 mm film (approx. 50 feet)
10 CDs
47 computer disks (9x9 cm)
12 databelts
2 external hard drives (60 GB and 160 GB)
16 objects

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1920 - 2010)

Biographical history

Bernard Grad (1920-2010) was born February 4, 1920 in Montréal, Québec. He spent his early years living with his mother Raizel (Rose) and his maternal grandmother until his grandmother’s death in 1932. Grad entered McGill University in 1937 through a scholarship. In January 1941, Grad was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was sent to a sanatorium for almost three years. He returned to McGill University in 1943. He graduated in 1944 and immediately began graduate studies in Biology. By 1949, he achieved his Ph.D. with high honors in Experimental Morphology.

In 1946, he met his future wife Lottie Dainoff. They were married in 1948. They had three children together, Julie Ann, Roland and Willis. Their first child, Julie Ann, died at age three in 1957. Roland was born in 1960 and Willis in 1962. Lottie died in 2016.

Grad had several personal experiences of “bio-energy” during his childhood and young adult life. These experiences led to his work with Wilhelm Reich. Soon after obtaining his Ph.D. in 1949, Grad met Reich in Rangeley, Maine. This visit affected Grad strongly and when he returned to Montréal he decided to run his own studies on life energy parallel to his paid research in gerontology at the Allan Memorial Institute of Psychiatry at McGill University. Grad continued to visit Reich up to, and including, Reich’s trial in 1956.

In 1957, Grad began experiments with the Hungarian healer Oskar Estabany. In 1960, in order to gain funding from the Parapsychology Foundation in New York, Grad was asked to replicate his experiments with Dr. Remi Cadoret of the Department of Physiology at the University of Manitoba and to publish the results. Grad continued his work in healing as well as his work in gerontology for three decades. He became known internationally as a pioneer in healing studies.

Grad retired from McGill University in 1985 and then worked at the Université du Québec with the Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie Research Centre until 1993. After his formal retirement, Grad continued lecturing and research on healing. In the several years before Grad’s death, Deborah Gagne interviewed Grad with the aim of compiling the interviews into a book. In 2015, a limited edition pre-publication proof was circulated among family and friends titled On the Road to Healing and Biogenesis: Memoirs of a Scientist. The book is currently under consideration for publication and broader distribution. Bernard Grad died December 27, 2010 in Montréal.

Subud
Soon after the death of their daughter in 1957, Grad and his wife Lottie learned about Subud, an international spiritual movement headed by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo (also known as Bapak). By 1959, they helped open a Montréal Subud chapter. As part of the Subud practice, they later took the spiritual names of Raymond and Renée. Subud was part of their lives until their deaths.

Custodial history

The material was in the possession of Dr. Grad at his house until his death in 2010. Apart from some records that were moved after water damage, the records remained in the family house until 2016 when his wife Lottie (Renée) passed away. The remaining records were then moved to a storage locker until Dr. Grad's sons, Roland and Willis, transferred the records to the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections. Walter Meyer zu Erpen, President of the Survival Research Institute of Canada, and William Carswell assisted with the transfer.

Scope and content

The fonds has been arranged into 28 series. The records cover Grad's research into healing and his other formal research at McGill University. Among the series are correspondence, experiment data, publications, biographical material, his work with Wilhelm Reich and a selection of Grad's voluminous collection of clippings and articles. Grad's long association with the Subud spiritual movement that he shared with his wife Lottie (Renée) is also included.

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Arrangement has been imposed.

Language of material

  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Italian
  • Japanese

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Restrictions on access

Some files are restricted. These are files containing names of individuals who participated in experiments. Please see a University of Manitoba archivist for more information.

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Users must abide by the relevant copyright legislation.

Finding aids

Generated finding aid

Associated materials

This fonds is one of a series of fonds and collections transferred to the Archives by Walter Meyer zu Erpen, President of the Survival Research Institute of Canada. It is related to the various other Psychical Research and Spiritualist Collections that the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections has attracted since it acquired the Hamilton Family fonds (MSS 14).

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Finding aid created by M. Horodyski (November 2019).

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