Carlos S. Alvarado, PhD, Research Fellow, Parapsychology Foundation
Journals
The journals related to psychical research are particularly important and should be studied with care. Unfortunately most of them are not indexed in modern databases for the period emphasized in my comments (19th century to 1930s). Some important journals are: Journal of Parapsychology, Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, Annales des Sciences Psychiques, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, Luce e Ombra, Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research, Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Psychic Science, Psychische Studien, Revue Métapsychique, Rivista di Studi Psichici, and Zeitschrift fur Parapsychologie.
Many other journals also have valuable and interesting information about topics such as apparitions and mediumship. This is the case of: Banner of Light, Light, Religio-Philosophical Journal, Revue Spirite, Spiritual Magazine, and The Spiritualist (title changed). Some of the journals mentioned in this section are available at the website of the International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals.
Classics
There are also many classic works that are highly recommended. I have included in this section a few examples of major classics, and some minor ones. One example of a major classic in the sense of being highly influential, is William Crookes’ (1874) Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism (London: J. Burns). Here Crookes reported experiments conducted with medium D.D. Home, and his famous observations of materialization phenomena by Florence Cook. The book is also instructive regarding how Crookes was criticized, and how he defended himself, showing similarities to more recent controversies.
Other works include:
Gurney, E., Myers, F.W.H., & Podmore, F. (1886). Phantasms of the Living (2 vols.). London: Trübner.
Aksakov, A. (1890). Animismus und spiritismus [Animism and spiritism]. Leipzig: Oswald Mutze.
Flournoy, T. (1900). From India to the Planet Mars: A Study of a Case of Somnambulism. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Myers, F. W. H. (1903). Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death (2 vols.). London: Longmans, Green.
Morselli, E. (1908). Psicologia e “Spiritismo:” Impressioni e Note Critiche sui Fenomeni Medianici di Eusapia Paladino [Psychology and “Spiritism:” Impressions and Critical Notes About the Mediumistic Phenomena of Eusapia Paladino] (2 vols.). Turin: Fratelli Bocca.
Geley, G. (1920). From the Unconscious to the Conscious. Glasgow: William Collins. (First published in French in 1919)
Schrenck-Notzing, A. von (1920). Phenomena of Materialisation. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Trübner.
Warcollier, R. (1921). La Télépathie: Recherches Expérimentales. Paris: Félix Alcan.
Osty, E. (1923). Supernormal Faculties in Man: An Experimental Study. London: Methuen.
Geley, G, (1927). Clairvoyance and Materialisation: A Record of Experiments. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
Rhine, J. B. (1934). Extra-Sensory Perception. Boston: Boston Society for Psychic Research.
Pratt, J. G., Rhine, J. B., Smith, B. F., Stuart, C. E., & Greenwood, J. (1940). Extra-Sensory Perception After Sixty Years. New York: Henry Holt.
*Most of the information presented here appeared first in Alvarado, C.S. (2016-2017). The history of parapsychology: A brief bibliography. Mindfield, 8(3), 105-109; 9(1), 14-17. Mindfield is the bulletin of the Parapsychological Association.