Archives for the Unexplained formerly known as Archives for UFO Research is a depository dedicated to collecting materials about UFOs, ufology, Forteana, cryptozoology, paranormal phenomena and folklore. AFU is a nonprofit foundation situated in Norrköping, Sweden. The collections include 19,000 books in various languages, 40,000 magazine issues representing 5,000 annual magazines, 50,000 newspaper clippings, photographs, films, tape records, memorabilia, and more. The library acquires about five thousand books a year and has works in many different languages. Works include about fifty thousand journal issues and extensive news files filling about 7,200 linear feet. AFU also possesses Scandinavian archives, including over 30,000 reports and collections about organizational and personal files. The archive also collects scale models, paintings, paraphernalia, posters, clothes, toys, and other items.
History
Archives for UFO Research was founded in Södertälje in 1973 by Håkan Blomqvist, Kjell Jonsson, and Anders Liljegren. The purpose was to provide information for UFO researchers and build a specialized research library for UFO literature. In 1980, AFU was converted to a charitable foundation and the archive was moved to its current location in Norrköping. Through a special agreement in 1986, AFU is connected to the national organization UFO-Sweden, and takes the role of managing the organization's archives and libraries. The daily operation is run by a permanent staff and entirely on a voluntary basis by contributions from private sponsors.
Collection
AFU stores UFO reports submitted and documented by private and military investigators in Sweden. The archive manages UFO-Sweden's report archive. Material is continuously being added material from the organization's central and field investigators. The report archive includes about 20,000 Swedish observations and copies of all available open UFO investigations since 1946 made by the Swedish Armed Forces. The archive has received donations of comprehensive report archives from Norway, Denmark, and others. Journals from around the world that are within the scope of the archive topics are saved regularly. The archives currently have about 30,000 booklets. The collection includes all kinds of regularly published writings from religious cults newsletters to comics with scientific ambitions. Most of the journals describe reported UFO cases and debate of UFO topics in different parts of the world. To organize the collection, librarians developed a specialized subject classification scheme for the topic.
