Project Phoenix and new UK UFO files showing international interest among some government officials

Section 3 : Project Phoenix – Introduction

Section 3(a) : Outline

It has been my fond (if optimistic…) hope during the last few years that making it easier to access UFO source materials (including official documents from various governments) may improve the quality of discussions about UFO reports. It seems to me that there is a possibility that the petty squabbles and arguments within ufology could at least be reduced if more of that material is made freely and easily available online – ideally in a searchable format.

With that in mind, I have been working with various others (particularly the AFU in Sweden and Barry Greenwood in the USA) to get more source material online, after obtaining relevant permissions.

During the last few months, I’ve made a bit of an effort to widen the circle of those involved in this effort. I’d like to make it easier for a much larger number of people to contribute to these efforts, in the hope that more can be achieved in a relatively short span of time.

I think that there is considerable potential for more crowd-sourced (NOT crowd-funded) projects. Since relying on data is better than mere speculation, I’ve proposed a week-long trial of coordinated attempts to get material scanned at the end of January 2018, probably Wednesday 24 January to Wednesday 31 January 2018.

So part of arranging this little experiment in international collaborative sharing of scanned UFO material, during that week in January I will be making a coordinated push to encourage UFO groups to work together, to get volunteers (via popular discussion forums like ATS, Reddit and on Facebook) to go to various archives (official and private) to scan documents not currently available online (see Section 4 below), to encourage editors/authors of defunct publications to give their permissions for those publications to be scanned and to encourage those with existing scans to talk about the possibility of sharing their material openly (including addressing any permissions required, which can be pursued during that week).

I would also like to attempt a crowd-sourced (NOT crowd-funded) effort in relation to UFO newspaper clippings (see Section 5 below) and some other mini-projects which people could participate in from the comfort of their own home (see Section 6 and Section 7 below).

I hope that some members of ATS will be interested in participating. I think that week in January could be fun. I’d like to lay the groundwork for it now by lining up a few volunteers. If there is interest in one or more of the aspects outlined below, once the basic outline has been thrashed out in this thread and some of the ideas pushed forward a bit then I may start threads specifically on some of them.

Section 3(b) : Scanning statement

To help give that project a little push, I have arranged for the following statement to be endorsed by numerous UFO researchers and prominent UFO skeptics. The ones that has endorsed it so far far include Jenny Randles, Hal Puthoff, Dr Kit Green, Bruce Maccabee, Rick Hilberg, Jan Aldrich, Barry Greenwood, Mark Rodeghier (of CUFOS), Frank Warren, Tim Printy, Jim Oberg, Robert Sheaffer, Lance Moody, Chris Rutkowski, Christopher O'Brien, Edoardo Russo, Dick Haines, John Schuessler (formerly of MUFON), James Carrion (formerly of MUFON), Mark Allin (of AboveTopSecret.com) Tony Eccles (of BUFORA), Dr David Clarke, Paul Dean, Keith Basterfield, Jacques Scornaux of SCEAU-Archives OVNI and Mikhail Gershtein of Russia):

"We consider that making source materials about reports of 'UFOs' (including official documents, periodicals and relevant audio recordings) easily and freely available online is likely to contribute to the study of relevant physical, historical, psychological and sociological issues. If you are able to help with digitisation projects such as the one being conducted by the AFU in Sweden, we would appreciate you doing so".

I have already used this statement in a few emails in the last week to obtain permission to share some scanned resources...

Section 4 : Project Phoenix – Volunteers to visit archives with camera / scanner / smartphone

These days, most of us have relatively easy access to equipment that can be used to photograph/scan images of documents in an archive. So why not get a bunch of documents scanned??

Useful images can now be taken using anything ranging from a high-speed scanner or camera to a free app on an average smartphone.

One app that, after a bit of online reading, I've focused upon is ScanBot - partly because it is available for Android and iOS products and the basic product (which I think is all that anyone needs) is free. A few volunteers on ATS installed and tested the free version of the app for me a while ago and the results were not amazing but generally usable (and certainly better than no image at all of relevant documents sitting in various official and private archives…).

Here is the relevant Android link for the free Scanbot on the Google Playstore:
play.google.com...

And here is the relevant iPhone link for the free Scanbot on the iTunes app store:
itunes.apple.com...



I realise that the results of such an app may not be up to the usual standards of scans of UFO material by, say, the AFU - but there is a balance to be struck between ease of use on freely available equipment by volunteers in different places or getting no volunteers at all...

I understand that it is possible to get significantly better results if you use some sort of cheap apparatus, such as that sold on Amazon at the link below:
www.amazon.de...

There are a whole host of archives that hold UFO documents not yet online. I’ll outline a few below, to be targeted during the Project Phoenix week at the end of January. However, it would be sensible to explore before then some issues in relation to logistics and permissions so that we have all our ducks in a row.

Let’s start with some further official files sitting in archives in New Zealand and Australia – in sections Section 4(a) and 4(b) below. The position in relation to the USA is more complicated because there is so much stuff that potentially could be scanned dotted around the country.

Section 4(a) : Volunteers for archives in New Zealand? Further government UFO files available

Back in 2013, I wrote a thread here on ATS about several of New Zealand’s UFO files and made them available as searchable PDF documents. That thread included a section on several files further which sat in archives in New Zealand waiting for someone to scan them and share them. Four year later, they still haven’t been scanned. Come on, guys and gals, this needs to be sorted out.

Pauline Wilson’s post was the only place I’d previously someone comment (in 2010) that the releases released online were not ALL of New Zealand’s UFO files. I don’t recall any of the main stream media coverage at that time referring to this fact. Unfortunately, no-one appears to have responded to Pauline Wilson’s request for copies of these other official files in 2010. I experienced a similar problem when I raised these files in 2013. Four years later, I’m getting a bit impatient now so am pushing a bit harder for someone to sort this out (hence the Project Phoenix statement and related effects to improve coordination and seek volunteers with a smartphone/camera and a few hours to spare…).

Back in 2013, I duplicated Pauline Wilson’s efforts and searched the online database of the Archives New Zealand. I found the following 9 files that appear to relate to UFOs listed in that database that are not included in the files released online in 2010. Some of these files were “open access” (which I understand indicates that paper copies of these files are available for examination and copying at the locations indicated in the table below) while some were “restricted access”. According to a guide on the website of the Archives New Zealand:

Restrictions are placed on records by the agency that created them. The reason is primarily to protect privacy, but can also relate to material deemed to be of a sensitive nature.

Access to restricted records can only be provided with the written permission from the agency responsible for the restriction

The further files that appeared to relate to UFOs that I identified in 2013 in the catalogue of the Archives New Zealand are summarised in the table below.



Thus, it seemed that files were available to view (and copy) at offices in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. The addresses for the relevant offices are given below for ease of reference:

Wellington offices:


Auckland offices:


Christchurch offices:


According to a guide on the website of Archives New Zealand in 2013, not only could visitors use a camera to copy archives, the Archives positively “encourage you to bring your own personal camera to our Reading Rooms to make copies of records”:



A more detailed guide to the Archives’ camera policy in 2013 was available to downloaded from this link. That policy included more details on the general permission to use digital cameras to copy material in the archives:


So, why not get these official scanned??

Section 4(b) : Volunteers for archives in Australia? Further government UFO files available

I have previously uploaded PDF versions of several batches of Australian files found by Australian researcher Keith Basterfield and others (see, for example, my thread Oz X-Files : “authenticated sighting”, “appear to be inexplicable”, USA “very interested"), ”Oz X-Files - The second batch” and Oz X-Files : Third batch (searchable PDF download)”.

During December 2017, Keith Basterfield has recently posted on his blog details of further official Australian government UFO files apparently sitting in their archives waiting for someone to scan them.

Those files include 2 apparently open files in the Australian National Archives in Canberra. Those files are detailed below:
recordsearch.naa.gov.au...

recordsearch.naa.gov.au...

Section 4(c) : Volunteers for archives in the USA? Further government UFO files

I’ve found various references to further official documents in archives in the USA. Given the length of my notes for this thread already, I think it best to leave this to a separate thread if there is enough interested in Project Phoenix in general.

Section 4(d) : Volunteers for archives in the USA? Private researchers’ files

This Proceedings of the Sign Historical Group included an attempt to outline the content of various UFO archives in several universities and in the hands of private UFO groups/researchers. Those Proceedings are online at:
www.project1947.com...

Since 1999, a number of guides to relevant collections have been made available online by some of the relevant universities and others.

As a basic tool, a while back I created searchable PDFs containing details of relevant archives (mainly in universities) found using the ArchiveGrid website that John Reed helpfully drew to my attention a while ago. That search engine can be found at:
beta.worldcat.org...

The 4 PDF files at the link below contain details of 322 archives found as a result of a search for "ufo OR ufos OR unidentified flying object OR unidentified flying objects":
app.box.com...

I've also started a directory online storing inventories of various UFO document collection.

My preliminary work in 2014 resulted in a directory which includes entries for collections relating to the groups and individuals listed below.

Aldrich, Jan
Allende, Carlos
Barker, Gray
Bloecher, Ted
Bray, Arthur
Carr, Robert Spencer
Condon, Edward
Connors, Wendy
Craig, Roy
CUFOS
Davidson, Leon
Fawcett, George
Fontes, Olavos
Fuller, John
Greenwood, Barry
Gross, Loren
Hill, Paul
Hynek, J Allen
Jones, William E
Keyhoe, Donald
Klass, Philip
Mancusi, Bruno
Mcdonald, James
Menzel, Donald
Pflock, Karl
Pickett, Jack
Roach, Franklin
Ruppelt, Edward
Sagan, Carl
Salisbury, Frank
Sanderson, Ivan T
Scully, Frank
Sprinkle, Leo
Swords, Michael
Tulien, Thomas
Ufodex
Webb, Jack
Williamson, George Hunt

If you'd like to browse these entries then you can see the current state of play online at:
app.box.com...



I've uploaded a zipped version of that (basic, but expanding) directory to the temporary link below:
we.tl...

The next step is to list the cities related to the various archives referred to above, then work out some priorities and get some volunteers to contact those archives about the possibility of scanning some material (ranging from just finding aids to narrow future searches to some/all the relevant documents – e.g. FOIA requests and responses…) and whether there would be any difficulty getting permission from those archives for the posting online of such FOIA material.

Section 4(e) : Volunteers for archives in the UK? Private researchers’ files

Jenny Randles and some other researchers in the UK have indicated a willingness to be involved in scanning efforts relating to their archives, so there’s plenty to be done in the UK as well…

Section 4(f) : Volunteers for further locations

It’s getting late, so I’ll leave this one to another thread as well.

Section 5 : Project Phoenix – Newspaper clippings – Potential crowd-sourcing (NOT crowd-funded…) project

Section 5(a) : Introduction
As a bit of light planning for one aspect of Project Phoenix (a week long experiment in collaboration in ufology which I'm still aiming to do in November/December this year to tie up some loose ends, as I mentioned a few months ago), I've now started to combine some large collections of UFO newspaper cuttings and reaching out to a few groups/researchers about assimilating further material.

Progress is becoming rather rapid.

This has involved imposing a standard file name format so that the files form a new master collection.

Having previously invited opinions and looked into formats used by others (not to mention experimenting quite a bit myself over the years...), the format I've now started using for newspaper cuttings is:

Year Month (as a number, to enable sorting into chronological order...) Day_Relevant newspaper/publication_Group or person that did the scanning_Source Archive_Keyword (if any keyword was used by relevant archive when filing the clipping)

I'll paste a few examples of the file names for newspaper cuttings below:

1968 08 08_Daily mirror_Blom scan_AFU archive.pdf

1968 08 23_Express and Star_AFU scan_CFI archive_keyword UFO.pdf

1968 09 06_Daily sketch_Blom scan_AFU archive.pdf

1968 09 07_Daily Express 2_AFU scan_Dave Sankey archive.pdf

1968 09 07_Daily Express_AFU scan_Dave Sankey archive.pdf

1968 09 07_Sun_Blom scan_AFU archive.pdf

1968 09 08_Daily Mirror_AFU scan_CFI archive_keyword UFO.pdf

1968 09 08_Sunday Express_AFU scan_Dave Sankey archive.pdf

1968 09 15_Sunday Post_AFU scan_Dave Sankey archive.pdf

1968 07 19_Nottingham Guardian Journal_AFU scan_Dave Sankey archive.pdf

1968 07 20_South Wales Echo_AFU scan_Dave Sankey archive.pdf

1968 07 31_Montreal Gazette_AFU scan_CFI archive_keyword UFO.pdf

1968 08 02_Renfrewshire Gazette_AFU scan_Dave Sankey archive.pdf

1968 08 07_Sun_Blom scan_AFU archive.pdf

1968 08 07_The evening news_Blom scan_AFU archive.pdf

1968 08 08_Daily Mirror_AFU scan_CFI archive_keyword UFO.pdf

I think there is considerable potential for a crowd-sourced (NOT crowd-funded) effort to make a large chronological archive of UFO newspaper clippings.

As detailed below, I’ve made a start on this with the AFU in Sweden…

Section 5(b) : Tens of thousands of scans now on AFU website
The AFU in Sweden has scanned a huge number of fortean newspaper clippings. I extracted from those an initial set of about 20,000 UFO newspaper clippings.
I’ve added more than another 20,000 or so UFO newspaper clippings from other sources.
From 1950 onwards, the current collection includes over 35,000 clippings. (There are thousands of undated clippings etc as well).

Due to copyright issues, I’m a bit concerned about simply posting a link to all of these clippings here. However, if there is an interest in working on developing this resource then I think the AFU may be persuaded to allow its servers to be used to at least allow password-controlled access to the UFO clippings.

For now, I’ve uploaded a list of the relevant clippings to the link below:
we.tl...

omg, a thread that's just you lol

Section 5(c) : Crowd-sourcing required splitting of scanned albums etc
i think I can get permission from various groups and publishers for us to strip material from publications which have previously collated UFO newspaper clippings. For example, BUFORA (a British UFO group) has given permission for its “Newsfile” publication to be stripped in this way. Most clippings are clearly labelled with a date and the name of a relevant newspaper.

The AFU has also scanned various albums of newspaper clippings.

There is free software available online (such as PDF Xchange Editor) which makes it free, quick and easy to save individual pages of a PDF under different file names – so it is relatively painless (if a bit boring, hence my preference for spreading the workload…) to strip such publications into individual clippings (or at least individual pages, which may need to be saved under several file names if they comprise two or three clippings).

As a test, I’ve uploaded 62 issues of BUFORA’s Newsfile publication (with the permission of BUFORA) and various albums scanned by the AFU. That sample can be found at the link below, with the password “Strippers”:
gofile.me...

If you are going to strip an issue or album, please post in this thread to avoid duplication of effort.

Section 5(d) : Crowd-sourcing further clippings

I envisage a number of us working together to take clippings from various other resources (e.g. the FBI’s UFO files etc and those of various governments which I’ve previously made available online as PDF), stripping those files for individual clippings which can be named according to the file name convention above and then added to the chronological set – but let’s start with the sample in Section 5(c) above.

Section 6 : Project Phoenix –Scanning further UFO newsletters/periodicals in English?

My notes for this thread have become too long, so I’ve deleted this section. In summary, I’ve been involved in getting permission for quite a few defunct UFO periodicals to be scanned and made available online. Most of the scanning has been done by our friends in Sweden at the AFU, with help from several others (particularly Barry Greenwood in the USA).
Most of those publications are in the AFU’s download section, particularly in the sub-sections relating to the USA, the United Kingdom, files.afu.se..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">Canada and Australia.

Several more publications have now been scanned, with permissions from their editors/publishers and some more are in the process of being scanned by the AFU and others. I’ll post them during the Project Phoenix week in January.

If you would like any other UFO peridiocals/magazines/newsletter scanned, post brief details in this thread – ideally with the name the editor/publisher of the relevant publisher.

I hope that the scanning statement and its endorsements in Section 3(b) above will help get further permissions from veteran ufologists and those that have previously published a defunct newsletter.

Section 7 : Project Phoenix – GOING GLOBAL (Stage 1): Connecting with UFO groups around the world interested in scanning UFO material and freely sharing it (where copyright and other restrictions allow…)

Section 7(a) : Existing connections:


Section 7(a)(i) : International/Sweden - The AFU
During the last couple of years, I have worked fairly closely with several people in Sweden at the AFU.

Details of the AFU can be found at the link below:
www.afu.se...

Some of the material scanned by the AFU (after obtaining relevant permissions) can be found here:
files.afu.se...


Section 7(a)(ii) : USA – CUFOS
Mary Castner (the webmaster for Allen J Hynek’s Center for UFO Studies – CUFOS) in the USA has scanned a considerable number of early UFO periodicals and various care files.

That material can be found at the link below. See in particular the items under the menus on the left for “Classic UFO cases” (which includes unusually large case files on several of the best known UFO cases), “UFO Case Files” and “Early UFO Periodicals”:
www.cufos.org...

CUFOS works closely with veteran ufologist Barry Greenwood. Barry has had a longstanding interest in digitizing UFO source material, having established the PREP project (or “Periodical Restoration Project”) in 2008. For about a year before my break from public participation in ufology, we pushed forward the scanning of various periodicals which have been difficult for researchers to obtain. I should probably have bothered Barry earlier, but I don’t like to impose on researchers that I know are very busy with various projects.


Section 7(a)(iii) : USA – NICAP
The NICAP website, operated by Francis Ridge is an excellent resource for scanned documents and articles relating to many UFO incidents (although it is sometimes a bit light on skeptical material relating to those incidents). Fran Ridge operated the NICAP Research email List, which (like many UFO email discussion Lists) has seen rather a down-turn in use since Facebook and UFO discussion forums like ATS started gaining ground. However, the website (and the associated email List) remain useful resources for those seeking to obtain scanned UFO source materials.

Section 7(a)(iv) : USA – WISE

Dr John Reed of "WISE" (the "World Institute for Scientific Exploration") is seeking to develop a the "digital library” of material on various UFO, Fortean and esoteric subjects. Dr Reed’s interests are rather wider than my own, but he has been a very useful contact in relation to the scanning of UFO/Fortean material (particularly in relation to University archives)
wisewiki.org... index.php?page=WISE+Digital+ Library+(WDL)


Section 7(a)(v) : USA - To The Stars Academy (Tom DeLonge)
Well, I probably don’t need to say much about the “To The Stars Academy” at the moment given the publicity it has been receiving recently:
dpo.tothestarsacademy.com...
Several of those involved in this enterprise have an interest in the scanning of UFO material.


Section 7(a)(vi) : UK – BUFORA
British UFO group BUFORA has been cooperating with the AFU in Sweden to get a large volume of case files scanned (any a lot of audio material digitized as well).
BUFORA’s previous publications have (with very little fanfare) been made available at the link below:
www.bufora.org.uk...
Hopefully, more of BUFORA’s material (e.g. some of the audio recordings of its lectures over the last few decades by various UFO researchers, contactees and others) can also be made freely available online.

Section 7(a)(vii) : Australia - UAP Scientific Research
Keith Basterfield and Pauline Wilson operate a blog/group called “Unidenfified Aerial Phenomea – Scientific Research”

Keith Basterfield worked during 2016-2017 with me, the AFU and some others to get various Australian periodicals online (with the permissions of the copyright holders).
Pauline Wilson wrote before me about the further

Keith Basterfield works closely with another Australian researcher of UFO documents, Paul Dean, who has written a blog post in July 2017 about the desirability of getting “movement” in relation to the further New Zealand files.


Section 7(a)(viii) : Australia - UFO Research (NSW)
Anthony Clarke of the Australian “UFO Research (NSW)” has worked to make various resources available online, including the Australian publication “UFO Reporter” and various Australian newsclippings – see the “Archives” tab at the top of its website at:
www.ufor.asn.au...


Section 7(a)(ix) : New Zealand - UFOCUZ NZ
Suzy Hansen of UFOCUZ NZ has recently been in touch about working together on some scanning issues. I hope that (unless a member of ATS is quicker…) that some of the remaining New Zealand files will be scanned during the Project Phoenix week by members of UFOCUZ NZ and that some New Zealand publications will also be made available online.
www.ufocusnz.org.nz...


Section 7(a)(x) : France – SCEAU
Venturing beyond the English-speaking countries, I have had some discussions with a French group very interested in scanning (www.sceau-archives-ovni.org..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">SCEAU). I’m hopeful that there will be relevant good news from France soon.

Section 7(a)(xi) : Germany - GEP etc
Similarly, I have recently been having promising discussions with various researchers in Germany (associated with a group known as GEP and others). It sounds like progress may be made in relation to German scanning efforts and the sharing of material online in the near future (hopefully during the Project Phoenix week in January…).
www.ufo-forschung.de

Section 7(a)(xii) : Italy – CISU
CISU has enviable archives in Italy (which I have had the pleasure of visiting). Several individuals associated with CISU, including Edoardo Russo, are interested in scanning UFO source materials. They have scanned numerous Italian UFO newsclippings and created various databases.
www.cisu.org...

Section 7(a)(xiii) : Russia/Ukraine – Global Archive UAP Study

Mikhail Gershtein and Igor Kalytyuk (in Russia and the Ukraine respectively) have amassed a huge quantity of scanned UFO literature and documentation. Over the years I've found Mikhail to be a very well-informed researcher more willing than many within the UFO community to use his time to help other researchers by finding and scanning UFO material. Their main project relating to scanning UFO material is the “Global UAP Archive Study”, which is a huge resource.
ufology-news.com...

Section 7(a)(xiv) : Northern Ireland - Niufos (Northern Ireland Ufo Society)
Patrick Allen of the Northern Ireland Ufo Society has collated UFO publications from various sources. (There appear to be copyright issues in relation to the sharing of some of that material). They are interested in UFO scanning projects.


Section 7(a)(xv) : Brazil – Portal Fenomenum
When I recently asked about Brazlian scanning efforts, I made contact with Portal Fenomenum. They have a website which includes various scanned files and newspaper clippings. Significantly (to me at least…) they also speak English.
www.fenomenum.com.br...

Section 7(b) : Connecting with other relevant groups???
Who else should I be in touch with about scanning efforts?

When I’ve asked this before, I haven’t heard of many more relevant groups. However, when I recently asked about specific countries (Brazil and New Zealand) I was quickly provided with details of several groups/individuals.

If the brief approach as part of this thread doesn’t work, I may post another thread with a list of countries and ask what groups exist (particularly those with an interest in scanning) in each country on the list. Let’s see how this thread goes first.

Section 8 : Project Phoenix : GOING GLOBAL (Stage 2): UFO FOIA requests outside the USA and UK?

Section 8(a) : List of countries with a Freedom Of Information Act
Wikipedia has a page with a list of the FOIA legislation in 79 countries. I thought it might be interesting for us to try to get FOIA requests submitted for UFO material in some of the countries on that list (other than ones which have already been targeted by English speaking researchers e.g. the USA, UK, Canada and Australia etc…).
en.wikipedia.org...


Section 8(b) : Arranging requests and logistics
Obviously, arranging such requests involves language issues. I think we may be able to cross-reference the list of relevant countries on Wikipedia with the list of researchers in another thread on ATS (The UFO-Alien Applied Linguistics Registry and see if the individuals on that Registry can help us:
(a) find the relevant FOIA pages for some of those other countries;
(b) generate brief requests for relevant documents.

Section 9 : Postscript – New Avatar

To mark the start of work on assimilating UFO material from various archives, I have adopted a new borg-influenced Avatar which was kindly created for me by a member of ATS (Observer1) back at the end of 2012 when I started work on the scanning of UFO material – but I wanted to keep it until launching this project.

I am impressed. More than I can express in a post. You surely do not disappoint, Sir.

Welcome back!

Now I shall read the rest...

BT