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The ”’Archives of the Impossible”’ are a [[special collection]] at [[Rice University]] began by [[Jeffrey J. Kripal]]. Based at the [[Woodson Research Center]] in the [[Fondren Library]], it stewards collections on [[UFO]] and [[paranormal]] subjects, including the papers of [[Jacques Vallée]], declassified [[United States Army]] [[Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)|Stargate Project]] materials, correspondence sent to [[Whitley Strieber]] after the publication of ”[[Communion (book)|Communion]]”, and materials related to [[John E. Mack]]. By 2024 the archive comprised fifteen collections, hosts recurring conferences at Rice, and in 2024 launched a two-year research initiative of their collections.
The ”’Archives of the Impossible”’ are a [[special collection]] at [[Rice University]] by [[Jeffrey J. Kripal]]. Based at the [[Woodson Research Center]] in the [[Fondren Library]], it stewards collections on [[UFO]] and [[paranormal]] subjects, including the papers of [[Jacques Vallée]], declassified [[United States Army]] [[Stargate Project (U.S. Army unit)|Stargate Project]] materials, correspondence sent to [[Whitley Strieber]] after the publication of ”[[Communion (book)|Communion]]”, and materials related to [[John E. Mack]]. By 2024 the archive comprised fifteen collections, hosts recurring conferences at Rice, and in 2024 launched a two-year research initiative of their collections.
==Details==
==Details==
| Archives of the Impossible, Rice University, Houston, TX | |
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| 29°43′4.021″N 95°24′0.730″W / 29.71778361°N 95.40020278°W / 29.71778361; -95.40020278 | |
| Location | Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, Texas, United States of America |
| Scope | Paranormal, UFO, and anomalous phenomena research archives |
| Established | 2014 (2014) |
| Circulation | Special collection (rare materials): does not circulate |
| Director | Jeffrey J. Kripal (Curator), Amanda Focke (special collections) |
| Affiliation | Rice University School of Humanities |
| Public transit access | METRORail Red Line (Hermann Park/Rice University station) |
| Website | impossiblearchives |
The Archives of the Impossible are a special collection at Rice University begun by Jeffrey J. Kripal. Based at the Woodson Research Center in the Fondren Library, it stewards collections on UFO and paranormal subjects, including the papers of Jacques Vallée, declassified United States Army Stargate Project materials, correspondence sent to Whitley Strieber after the publication of Communion, and materials related to John E. Mack. By 2024 the archive comprised fifteen collections, hosts recurring conferences at Rice, and in 2024 launched a two-year research initiative of their collections.
Details
The Archives of the Impossible (AOTI) of Rice University at Houston, Texas is a special collection founded in 2014 by Jeffrey J. Kripal, a religious studies academic.[1][2] AOTI is based at the Woodson Research Center.[3] AOTI materials are housed in the Fondren Library.[2] Kripal is director of AOTI and Amanda Focke is head of special collections at the project.[4] By 2024, AOTI contained fifteen separate collections of materials.[1] The AOTI were identified as the “most utilized collection within the institution.”[5]: 16 AOTI was identified by the Washington Library Association (WLA) in their journal Alki as the first such publicly accessible archive of UFO and paranormal research materials as “a primary focus”.[5]: 17 Kripal in 2024 estimated the overall size of the collections at “certainly over a million documents”.[1]
Kripal developed the AOTI by building relationships with other researchers over time, with their team at Rice identifying collections to consider for accession.[5]: 16 AOTI was initiated with a donation by French ufologist and author Jacques Vallée of his collected lifetime research materials.[3][1] After four years of negotiation, Vallée donated his collection to AOTI.[1] Rice University in 2024 began a two-year study of the materials in AOTI, after ten years of collection and archival work.[1] The research included artificial intelligence driven analysis of the Strieber and Mack collections.[2]
According to Oxford American, the project aimed to counter “damage” caused to the study of such topics by the Condon Committee report in 1969.[2] In 2025, Rice University hosted the conference, The Archives of the Impossible: The UFO and the Impossible, drawing three hundred attendees.[2] A semi-annual AOTI conference is held at Rice University.[5]: 17 Kripal remarked in 2025 that “now we call it the Center of the Impossible.[2]
Collections
The AOTI houses mail correspondences that Whitley Streiber, author of the book Communion, received from the public about their reported alien abduction claims.[4][3] Kripal highlighted 3,400 letters to Steiber in particular.[1] AOTI has a collection of material from John E. Mack of Harvard University.[2] Additional collections to the AOTI were donated by Larry W. Bryant, Brenda Denzler, Richard F. Haines, R. Leo Sprinkle and Wendelle C. Stevens. [5]: 14–16 Both the Sprinkle and Vallée materials have embargoes requested by the creators on some content due to their “sensitive nature”, according to the journal of the WLA.[5]: 15 AOTI holds declassified research material of the United States Army‘s 1972-1995 Stargate Project, donated by Edwin May, the program director from 1985 to 1995.[3][4]
The project was described as holding “thousands” of “firsthand abduction accounts”.[3] Rice University began an extensive de-identification process for Mack’s collection, to protect the identities of claimed experiencers in medical records.[5]: 8–9 Similar anonymization efforts were reported underway for the Strieber collection.[5]: 14–15 KPRC-TV described the AOTI collections as containing “photos, drawings, sketches, and personal testimonies, all claiming to document encounters with the unknown”.[1] Editor Derek Askey of the The Sun in 2025 detailed his visit to AOTI, and his examination of materials from the government’s Stargate Project and Communion readers.[4]
Collection details
- Larry Bryant, 1920-2010, 103 linear feet, accessioned 2019.[5]: 27
- Brenda Denzler, 1990s-2000s, 10 linear feet, accessioned 2019-2020.[5]: 27
- Richard F. Haynes, 1947-2015, 17 linear feet, accessioned 2020.[5]: 27
- John E. Mack materials, accession ongoing.[5]: 8–9
- Edwin C. May, Stargate Project materials, 1972-1995.[3]
- R. Leo Sprinkle, 1961-2017, 77.9 cubic feet, additional 13.6 GB of content, accessioned 2004-2018. Some material under embargo.[5]: 27
- Wendelle C. Stevens, 8 linear feet, accessioned 2023.[5]: 25
- Whitley Strieber, 1970-2016, 9 linear feet, multiple boxes of correspondence, accessioned 2023.[5]: 25
- Jacque Vallée, 1960-2015, 38 linear feet, some material under embargo until 2028-2031, accessioned 2018.[5]: 25
