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Alexander Imich fonds

  • CA UMASC MSS 389
  • Fonds
  • [1932?]-2012

The fonds consists of twelve series. The first, biographical, consists of miscellaneous personal papers that Imich has collected over the years, papers and writings of his wife, Wela, and personal journals dating back to 1946. In addition to this, the series contains articles written about Imich, some concerning his role as parapsychologist, others concerning his longevity. The next series, writings, consists of Imich's written articles and publications and all the material related to them including correspondence and abstracts. The writings range in date primarily from 1985-2002, but with some earlier pieces from 1958 and the early 1930s. The chief work in this collection is Incredible Tales of the Paranormal, a compilation of essays edited by Imich. The series contains various copies of the essays in this compendium, even though they were not written by Imich, as it showcases the editing process.

The third series consists of various essay contests that Imich judged between 1992 and 1995, sponsored by various parapsychological organizations. The fourth series, collected typescripts and articles, consist of articles and typescripts that Imich had collected over the years, including works by Rhea White and Larissa Vilenskaya. The fifth series is a group of subject files which vary from astrology to lost treasure buried in Haiti. The sixth series, lectures and conferences, consists of information relating to the various conferences Imich has attended in his life, primarily in the early and mid-1990s, but some as far back as 1970 and 1949. The seventh series, organization publications, consists of a large collection of journals and magazines by various parapsychology organizations between 1958 and 2009. The series contains the publications themselves along with any material Imich had grouped with them, be it correspondence, notes or otherwise.

The eighth series, correspondence, consists of the many letters and emails which Imich has kept from 1949-2011. The correspondence are primarily between Imich and his contemporaries in the world of parapsychology, many of whom are also personal friends. Imich filed his correspondence using three different methods. The first method organizes the correspondence by name, each file correlating to a specific person or organization. This method was primarily used for robust and lengthy correspondence. The second method again organizes by name, but each file corresponds to a letter of the alphabet rather than a specific person; thus all A’s are grouped together in one file, as are all B’s, etc. These are primarily smaller correspondence. Finally, the third method of correspondence filing is by subject. In this category, related correspondence were bound in binders and each binder was assigned a title. The majority of these correspondence are from the 1980s or earlier. Though many binders required two or more file folders to contain their contents, they are treated intellectually as a single file.

The ninth series contains various records from the IM School of Healing Arts in New York, which Imich attended from 1997-1999. The tenth series contains books which Imich has collected from 1937 to 1995, many of which have inscriptions. The eleventh series contains various pieces of silverware which were bent by Joe A. Nuzum. Finally, the 13th series contains various VHS tapes that Imich had collected, consisting primarily of demonstrations and experiments by Joe A. Nuzum and taped copies of the television show "The Otherside".

Imich, Alexander