SITU Status: Summer 2012.

Hello folks from Kalamazoo [back here for about 3+ weeks]: Since I'm home for a little bit, and since there has been some improvement in the state-of-accessibility of the SITU files, it seems appropriate to give you a report. What you're looking at above is a "central corridor" in my garage, which has been gutted of its former contents so as to house the SITU collection for the Society For Scientific Exploration. As you can see, the place is carpeted [not expensively, but carpeted nonetheless; and I'll even get around to vacuuming it sooner or later --- later is a better guess]. The lighting is decent with the overhead fluorescents but again not fabulous [anyone wanting to come and read the files can always bring them downstairs to my UFO/Anomalies research area, if conditions aren't up to their liking in the garage --- like Winter in Michigan, for instance].

You are looking down that corridor made of brand new and super-sturdy shelving units --- almost exactly $1000 dollars worth [out of my own pocket, by the way --- the things we idealists do for Truth]. What's on those shelves is the Sanderson collection of biological-zoological books mainly, with a dash of other areas of science. Ivan would have used these in his own zoological interests and perhaps to check details on various critters which might constitute mundane possibilities for anomalistic claims. There at the end of the corridor, facing you, are some of the famous Ivan Sanderson three-ring notebook files. I placed them, especially the Bigfoot/ABSM/ Lake and Sea monster ones there for "romantic" reasons --- they are the Heart of Sanderson, and this gives them a little center ring "glory".

There are a lot more of these ring-notebook files than you could see above in picture #1. I stored them all safely in the basement while all the paper-&-box slinging went on in the garage to get it organized. Less than half of them have been brought back up to shelve, but that now is easy and only awaits backs healthier than mine. As you can see in the picture above, there is a shelving unit literally clogged [but sorted] with the precious things just waiting for transportation upstairs.

This is what you see if you look down the parallel corridor to the left of the first picture. It's where most of the purely anomalies-related volumes are and where most of the anomalies related journals and newsletters will ultimately be. The latter are quite voluminous and will occupy most of the top and bottom shelving areas on both corridors. The actual containers for those things are a bit of a nightmare, as they didn't come in any journal boxes, and any halfway decent library "magazines box" costs about a buck a shot. I estimate that I'd need a few hundred --- not sure that I want to keep depleting my account foolishly, so some journals will probably find themselves occupying ordinary types of boxes.

Sharp-eyed observers might have noticed a Gigantopithecus skull [reconstruction by Grover Krantz] and five pre-modern Homo-whatevers on the top of the shelving in the rear. They weren't part of the collection, but I'm donating them to it. Better with SITU than my own stuff. The third corridor which I haven't pictured, is holding all the old-civilizations and cultural anthropology and nature adventuring things from the collection. Many non-anomalies-related books from both Sanderson' and Warth's collection were culled out of here, as the boxes which came to Michigan also contained some of their personal libraries which clearly had nothing to do with SITU. We checked each cull for anything special, mainly signatures, before taking them to the local libraries for intellectual recycling. There were also many anomalies books in duplication. Almost all those duplicates went out. A few exceptionally significant works were kept in duplicate or more --- works by Heuvelmanns would be an example. The reason for the culling is obvious: unless there is something special [signatures; marginalia--- there was almost none of this], a book is a book, and one copy will do. Also, pragmatically, the amount of space just wouldn't take the useless "fat".

There are a few "artifacts". Not a huge quantity of such things unfortunately, but fun nevertheless. This picture shows a cast of the famous Shipton Yeti print --- which some argue cannot be true, as they believe that Shipton never made such a casting, as well as a "negative" [i.e. what the print would have actually looked like impressed into the snow], which, I would guess is the mold which Ivan used to pour his metal cast of the "bronze" showpiece Yeti print that he used to hang on his wall. I believe that I saw that showpiece briefly during the great initial box shuffling heroics, but at my age I might just simply be out of my mind. I'll tell you later if I come across it as we head down the final laps of getting this beast organized. As to whether Ivan knew that the casting originally came from Shipton, or whether the cast used to make the print you see and the negative for the showpiece was just an artistic carving using good copies of the photography, I have no documentation seen in the collection yet anyway, and will also tell you if such surfaces. It IS odd that PURSUIT says rather flatly that the reproductions were from a "cast" if that wasn't true, but what do I know?

There are a very disorganized "pile" of smaller artifacts. The vast majority of these things are poorly to no-way labeled and, frankly, enrage me about the laziness of whomever was responsible. Most of these things will doubtless NEVER be identifiable, and be wasted. DON'T PANIC: I will NEVER throw away any such things in the childish hope that one day something will click for someone and the thing will get identified.

Above are happier examples. The two cylindrical "pill-containers" actually have [wonder-of-wonders] three examples [LABELED!!] of the mind-boggling "fishing lines from the sky" incidents. I'm a real child when it comes to things like this. I yelled "YES!" out loud when I picked those containers up and read the contents. The other two things are a piece of the burnt sidewalk of the South Hills VA UFO case [round container], and some metal from the alleged St Lawrence massive Metalfall, in the square container. Those two are things that I'm transferring from my own collection to the SITU archive because they "feel" like they belong there more.

Whenever I get time to probe into what is now a "junk box of debris", and locate some other identifiables, I'll let you know. Samples of "ringing rocks" would be a likely success in this "pursuit".

So, the books are essentially shelved. The famous notebooks are shelved or on their way. The journals are at least organized and will find their way "up" whenever the energy can move me. Artifacts will be worked on as it happens, but at least are "located" in the main. What you're looking at is the remaining monster. These are boxes filled with paper. If you were generous you'd call them "files". I call them a variety of very uncivilized names, but rarely "files". These are the most disorganized piles of near-garbage that could reside in any historian's nightmares. [I've looked through about ten or so not in this picture]. But, my historian's conscience will not allow me to shortshrift this work, which is pretty unrewarding I can promise you. Who knows what's in the boxes in the picture, but in the boxes I've gone through there are countless unsubstantial mark-ups of PURSUIT articles being edited, irrelevant bills, reminders of past dues, and indescribable trash. HERE AND THERE IS SOMETHING INTERESTING. So onward I will plod. Believe me, I'm in no hurry on this last task.

Here are the basics: The SITU files are owned by the Society for Scientific Exploration, under the administration of SSE treasurer John Reed. John has asked me to store, safeguard, and make accessible [within reason] these files. If someone wishes to visit the files, they are "open" [given the conditions of them as you have read above]. To do so, one needs to contact me and arrange it. AND, because of my on-again/ off-again caring for my Mother in West Virginia, that will have to be on a "Michigan month". This month I'm here. July, not. August, I'm here.... and past that the future is clouded.

In a day or two, I think I'll show you what the rest of this house's research potentials are ... that is, my personal research materials et al "downstairs".  Till then.