British Ufologists; Keep Your Records For Posterity and In The UK

 I think that it is quite clear now that the UK needs its own national UFO archive. So much has been sent abroad that is now lost to UK researchers; thousands of BUFORA documents and reports are with the AFU in Sweden and BUFORA refuses to allow access to the material citing data protection. That BUFORA has no ide4a what it had before 2010 does not help and neither does the fact that the digitalised records handed to them are now..."somewhere".

All of Contact UK files are in Sweden. Again, we cannot get access to those. For years British Ufologists and others have handed their files over and so what should be British UFO history is lost. The AFU cannot supply digitized archives and that includes of FSR material.

Is there an alternative?  Yes, and it is already up and running -the British UFO Learning Centre run by UFO historian and investigator John Hanson. No need to book an air ticket or hotels to travel overseas so that is a lot of money saved.

Above: Harry Harris on a TV programme in the 1990s

One thing we appear to have lost are the records of the late Harry Harris. The name should be familiar to Ufologists as he was involved in the Lynda Jones, Shamrock Cafe and Linda Taylor UFO abduction cases.  Harris had taped recordings of hypnosis sessions, reports and much more but these appear to be lost "somewhere" and those are valuable historical records.

Above: possible UFO abductee Linda Taylor with Harris.

Sadly, as so many of the old UFO scene pass away their records are either dumped or sent abroad and although the AFU have undertaken a great task it means that so much is lost to UK researchers.   

We have also "lost" many people who were involved in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and abduction experiences.  Not lost as in died (though a few have now) but because once they were used to get a story or book they were no longer required and Ufologists never kept in touch and so talking to these people years on to see how their lives continued or changed is impossible.  

We need an archive to tell their stories as well as preserve an historical record for future generations before we lose everything.

If you are a Ufologist or retired researcher/investigator then PLEASE contact John to preserve your history.