By Philip Mantel;
For decades, the civilian American UFO research group APRO (Aerial Phenomena Research Organisation) was the go-to UFO group headed by married couple Jim and Coral Lorenzen. Like most UFO groups it gradually faded away to be replaced by something else. APRO was without a doubt a pioneering UFO group and for decades after they closed down access to their archive of UFO files and related material was impossible.
It was therefore great news when David Marler, Executive Director of the National UFO Historical Records Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico put out a press release. It seems coincidental that in early November 2023 I had been discussing the location of various files on social media when this great news was released by David Marler, the Executive Director of NUFOHRC. It took the UFO community completely by surprise. Here is the press release in full dated November 28th 2023:
The Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) was one of the oldest and largest civilian UFO research organizations in the world. The research files of this organization have been transferred to the National UFO Historical Records Center (NUFOHRC) in Rio Rancho, NM.
Press Release
11-28-23
Dr. J. Allen Hynek, former Scientific Adviser to U.S. Air Force Project Blue Book, cited APRO and NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena) the best civilian UFO groups of their time. Both of these collections of UFO archival records along with the files of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) are now housed at the headquarters of NUFOHRC.
APRO was founded in 1952 by Jim and Coral Lorenzen, later based in Tucson, AZ. NICAP was started in 1957 in Washington D.C. by Major Donald Keyhoe. CUFOS was founded in 1973 by Dr. J. Allen Hynek in Chicago, IL. All of these records are in the process of being digitized for electronic storage, analyzation, transfer, and ease of access.
The collective files of APRO, NICAP, CUFOS, as well as Dr. J. Allen Hynek’s original U.S. Air Force Project Blue Book files, constitutes the largest civilian historical UFO case file collection in the United States, if not the world.
An appropriate site is being sought in the Albuquerque, NM area for a permanent facility to house this massive collection of UFO research data.
The facility will allow for public access to the UFO data as well as viewing of historic photos and artifacts from the UFO research field. NUFOHRC plans to cooperate with civilian, scientific, and governmental UFO research efforts.
Never in U.S. history has such a vast quantity of UFO records (numbering in the tens of thousands) been centralized in one location.
As a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, a tax-deductible donation may be made to NUFOHRC to fund a free-standing public archive building which will make these files and other historical materials more readily accessible for UFO researchers, academics, scientists, and U.S. government organizations. Donations can be made online or via mail.
For more information, contact Executive Director David Marler at: dbmarler@outlook.com
National UFO Historical Records Center
P.O. Box 15541
Rio Rancho, NM 87174
www.nufohrc.org
In short David Marler and NUFOHC were now in possession of what I called the Holy Grail of civilian UFO research files. I have known David Marler for a number of years and I was happy to donate my own humble collection of UFO files and related material to NUFOHRC in 2023. David knows what projects and topics I am working on but it was going to take a good amount of time to go through the APRO files but I was confident that these long ‘lost’ files were now safe and could bear fruit.