Walter Meyer zu Erpen

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Walter Meyer zu Erpen
Born	1958 (age 65–66) Nanaimo, BC, Canada
Occupation	Archivist
Language	English
Nationality	Canadian
Education	Nanaimo District Secondary School
Alma mater	University of British Columbia
Period	1984–

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Walter Meyer zu Erpen was born in 1958 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, of a fourth-generation British settler descendant mother and first-generation German immigrant father. He worked in the British Columbia provincial records management and archives programs from 1985 to 2004, and since 2005 has provided archives and records consulting services to provincial corporate clients. His interests in local history and genealogy, inspired by his grandparents, led him to a career in archives. Since 1975, he has conducted research and published widely about the history of Spiritualism and psychical research, the possibility of life after death, including spirit communication through mediumship and more recently the role of psychokinesis in séance-room phenomena. He co-founded the Survival Research Institute of Canada in 1991 and is credited with preserving many of the archival collections of Spiritualism and psychical research in Canada.

Education

Meyer zu Erpen graduated from Nanaimo District Secondary School in 1976. Following two years at Malaspina College in Nanaimo, he studied and travelled in Europe during 1978–1979, earning a Diplôme d'Études Françaises (1979) from the University of Strasbourg in France. Returning to Canada, he continued his studies in Vancouver, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (1982) in Canadian history and French from the University of British Columbia (UBC). In Fall 1982, he was among the second class to enter the UBC archives program, which was the first such graduate-level degree in North America. The thesis for his Master of Archival Studies (1985) was based upon a case study of the archives of the Corporation of the City of Nanaimo created between 1875 and 1904. The thesis was titled "Study of the Archival Record and its Context: Meaning and Historical Understanding." His archival studies internship in the Machine Readable Archives Division of the Public Archives of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1983, contributed to publication of a guide to the institution's data holdings.

Archives career

In 1985, after completion of the course work for his master's degree, Meyer zu Erpen moved to Victoria, British Columbia, to work as a records analyst in the provincial Records Management Branch (RMB). Responsible for records classification, scheduling and description, he coordinated publication of the provincial government's Administrative Records Classification System (ARCS) and oversaw development of the individual Operational Records Classification System (ORCS) manuals for many government functions. He advocated that other jurisdictions adopt the integrated approach to records classification and scheduling that he and his colleagues at RMB had innovated, based upon scheduling at the secondary level of classification in order to facilitate application of retention and disposition schedules. When RMB amalgamated with the Provincial Archives of British Columbia, he was appointed Manager of Appraisal and Acquisition in the new British Columbia Archives and Records Service (BCARS), taking on oversight for the acquisition of private records collections. During those years, he also guided implementation of the then new Archives and Records Information System (ARIS) from the paper-based systems that had been used to manage the provincial government's off-site records storage. The ARIS system automated processes for ongoing transfer to archival custody of government records scheduled for full or selective retention, another innovation that he and his colleagues had proposed.

Following an introductory meeting at the International Council on Archives meeting in Montreal in 1992, Meyer zu Erpen was instrumental in establishing and managing the project that saw the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) microfilm program invited to British Columbia. The multi-year collaboration between the BC Vital Statistics Agency, BCARS, the GSU, and volunteers from local genealogical societies culminated in the 1997 release on the BCARS website of the indexes to historical birth, marriage and death registrations in British Columbia, a satisfying accomplishment for Meyer zu Erpen who had created his first family tree in 1973 as a social studies school project. As manager responsible for corporate access initiatives, he also oversaw the conversion of BCARS' manual finding aids as a precursor to the current systems of online access.

Political engagement

In 1999, Meyer zu Erpen became involved in the green political movement in British Columbia and to lesser extent federally. He ran as a Green Party candidate for City of Victoria municipal council in 1999, placing 180 votes shy of the number that won the eighth seat on council. In 2001, he ran provincially in Victoria-Beacon Hill as the Green Party candidate and placed third. He achieved the third highest green vote count in that election, with green candidates in the seven southern Vancouver Island constituencies averaging almost 19 percent of the region's popular vote. He served on the Green Party of British Columbia governing body as Fund-Raising Chair from 2003 to 2005 and Party Chair from 2007 to 2009. He served the party as Campaign Manager for the 2005 provincial election and co-manager for the 2009 election. He also worked on election campaigns for green candidates Jane Sterk, Adriane Carr and Elizabeth May, among others.

Spiritualism

Meyer zu Erpen's involvement in the Spiritualist church in Canada began in 1975, with active participation in study groups from Fall 1982. He began collecting historical material about Spiritualism in Canada in 1983. Between 1991 and 2006, he compiled six print editions of the Directory of Spiritualist Organizations in Canada.

Meyer zu Erpen and co-author Debra Barr (1954–2008) contributed the Dictionary of Canadian Biography entry for Albert Durrant Watson, a Toronto medical doctor who published two books about the séances he conducted between 1918 and 1920. Barr was a close friend and colleague from the UBC archival studies program whom Meyer zu Erpen credits with having instigated his academic interest in the history of Spiritualism. Their historical study of Canadian Spiritualists and organizations expanded the Canadian content in a revised edition of The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits by Rosemary Ellen Guiley.

In 2018, Meyer zu Erpen contributed a perspective on Spiritualist afterlife beliefs to the Routledge Companion to Death and Dying. For his chapter in "Is There Life after Death?: Arguments, Theories, Evidence" (in preparation), a two-volume book project launched by editors Leo Ruickbie and Robert McLuhan on behalf of the Society for Psychical Research early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Meyer zu Erpen conducted a large survey of Spiritualists about the evidence for survival through Spiritualist mediumship and whether that evidence constitutes proof of life after death.

Survival research

Meyer zu Erpen's early interest and experiences in Spiritualism evolved into psychical research and in particular survival research. In 1991, with Debra Barr and other colleagues, he founded the Survival Research Institute of Canada (SRIC) to "investigate whether some part of human consciousness or personality survives physical death and whether that surviving 'spirit' is able to communicate with the living." Meyer zu Erpen has served as the president and archivist for SRIC since 2000 when it incorporated.

In 1991, Meyer zu Erpen began a detailed study of the archives documenting the Thomas Glendenning Hamilton and family psychical research. Dr. and Mrs. T.G. Hamilton conducted experiments in their home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, from 1918 until 1935, and the widowed Lillian Hamilton continued the research from 1935 to 1944. Meyer zu Erpen has written and lectured extensively about the Hamilton case, attesting to the authenticity of the photographs. He has concluded that the non-contact table levitations photographed between 1924 and 1927 with medium Elizabeth Poole (ca. 1870–1935) were genuine psychokinetic manifestations and that the Hamilton images represent the best such photographic record worldwide. Though the ectoplasmic manifestations photographed by Dr. Hamilton and colleagues between 1928 and 1934 with medium Mary Ann Marshall (1880–1963) present a challenge to parapsychology and science generally, Meyer zu Erpen has argued that the Hamiltons' ectoplasmic research is unique in that the archived images are supported by documentation of the séance proceedings. His conclusion about the possibility of genuine ectoplasm is supported by that of French chemist Michel Granger based upon his 20-year study of ectoplasm.

Meyer zu Erpen's approach with respect to séance-room psychokinetic phenomena was influenced through meeting and corresponding with Iris M. Owen and Dr. A.R.G. (George) Owen. The Owens were responsible for the 1970s Toronto Society for Psychical Research (TSPR) Philip experiment in which a non-mediumistic sitter group created the imaginary ghost they named Philip. Meyer zu Erpen's experiential research in the field includes a decade of observation of psychokinetic table movements in a Spiritualist home circle. In 2006, he participated as the spokesperson for that group in filming of the "Conjuring Philip" documentary by producer Donna Zuckerbrot and Reel Time Images, in association with VisionTV.

Since 2014, Meyer zu Erpen has assisted Society for Psychical Research magazine editor Leo Ruickbie in identifying authors and appropriate content for three issues of the Paranormal Review and one issue of the renamed Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research (MSPR). He is the Canadian representative of the Parapsychology Foundation.

Preserving the history of spiritualism and psychical research

Meyer zu Erpen's work to preserve the records of Spiritualism and psychical research dates from 1990, when he co-authored with Reverend Joy Lowe an article about sources for the historical study of Spiritualism in Canada that highlighted the need for congregations to preserve their own records. It was Debra Barr, as guest editor of the Religious Archives issue of Archivaria, who asked Meyer zu Erpen to research and report on Spiritualist archives.

Working closely with now retired University of Manitoba Archivist Shelley Sweeney, Meyer zu Erpen helped expand the institution's Spiritualism and psychical research collections, establishing the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections (UMASC) as a leader in the preservation of records relating to parapsychology. In many instances, he acted as the transferring agent on behalf of the Survival Research Institute of Canada, which had acquired the material in the course of historical research inquiries.

Since 2014, Meyer zu Erpen has been involved in the Preserving the Historical Collections of Parapsychology (PHCP) discussions with Wim Kramer, Sweeney and other colleagues. He helped facilitate the Utrecht (2014) and Winnipeg (2018) meetings. To coincide with the opening of the PHCP 2018 meeting, Meyer zu Erpen and Sweeney curated “Investigation of the Human Psyche: Spiritualist & Parapsychology Collections at the University of Manitoba Archives.” The exhibit drew extensively upon UMASC collections.

Between 2014 and 2019, Meyer zu Erpen and writer Roy Stemman shepherded the project that undertook archival digitization of the Psychic News newspaper archives (1932–2010). In collaboration with Sweeney and her colleagues, the scans were made accessible through the University of Manitoba Libraries digital collections.

Selected bibliography

• "Is Survival A Fact?: Spiritualism, Mediumship and Evidence for Survival", in Is There Life after Death?: Arguments, Theories, Evidence, ed. Leo Ruickbie and Robert McLuhan (London, UK: Society for Psychical Research, forthcoming).
• "Thomas Glendenning Hamilton", in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 16 (Toronto: University of Toronto/Université Laval, forthcoming (2022)).
• "Erlendur, A Tribute: An Introduction to this Special Tribute to Erlendur Haraldsson, Gentleman Scholar and Icelandic Super-Host", Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research, no. 2 (2021): 12.
• "Afterlife beliefs in the Spiritualist movement", in The Routledge Companion to Death and Dying, ed. Christopher M. Moreman (London, UK: Routledge / Taylor & Francis Group, 2018), chapter 21, pp. 218-229. ISBN 9781138852075 Search this book on ..
• With Shelley Sweeney, "Investigation of the Human Psyche: Spiritualist and Parapsychology Collections at the University of Manitoba Archives", Exhibition at the Elizabeth Dafoe Library, Winnipeg, 11 May to 19 December 2018.
• "Do Tables Fly?: The Hamilton Family's Experiments with 'Psychic Force', 1921-1927", Paranormal Review, Hamilton Family Fonds special issue, no. 77 (Winter 2016): 12-14
• "Of Teleplasms and Wax Fingertips: Dr. William Creighton’s Role in Authenticating Physical Phenomena", Paranormal Review, no. 77 (Winter 2016): 15-16.
• "Fact or Fraud?: Evidence for the Authenticity of the Mary Marshall Teleplasms", Paranormal Review, no. 77 (Winter 2016): 24-29.
• With Shelley Sweeney, "What Does it All Mean?: Physical Phenomena as Evidence of Life after Death", Paranormal Review, no. 77 (Winter 2016): 30-31.
• "Why Even Bother? Problems Preserving Parapsychological and Spiritualist Archives", Paranormal Review, no. 72 (October 2014): 8-9.
• "Canadian Psychical Research Experiments with Table Tilting and Ectoplasm Phenomena in the Séance Room", in The Spiritualist Movement: Speaking with the Dead in America and around the World, ed. Christopher M. Moreman (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2013), vol. 2, chapter 12, pp. 205-228. ISBN 9780313399473 Search this book on ..
• With Debra Barr, "Albert Durrant Watson", in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 15 (Toronto: University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2005), pp. 1058-1059.
• "The Problem of Human Survival: Study of Physical Mediumship and Intentional Actions by Trance Personalities as Evidence of Survival of Personality after Bodily Death", in Proceedings of the Academy of Religion and Psychical Research - Annual Conference 2002, pp. 121-135.
• "Addenda et Corrigenda", Archivaria, no. 32 (Summer 1991): 4-5.
• With Joy Lowe, "The Canadian Spiritualist Movement and Sources for its Study", Archivaria, no. 30 (Summer 1990): 71-84.
• "Study of the Archival Record and its Context: Meaning and Historical Understanding", ABCA Newsletter, vol. 12, no. 3 (1986): 6-7.
• With Katharine Gavrel, Machine Readable Archives Division, General Guide Series 1983 (Ottawa, ON: Public Archives Canada, 1984). ISBN 0662528808 Search this book on ..

References

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