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Dr. J. Allen Hynek, in full-on quizzical mode. From the Steven Spielberg motion picture "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
Going by the archive directory on Northwestern's website, these are going to be fun files to explore. "The Hynek Papers span the years 1953 to 1988 and fill four boxes," the entry says. "The papers include biographical materials, clippings, reports relating to Hynek's work on Project Stargazer, and some materials pertaining to Hynek's UFO work and his work at Northwestern."
That part about "some materials pertaining to Hynek's UFO work" may be a bit of an understatement, because later on the entry mentions this: The clippings from 1966 document the major UFO sighting in Michigan that launched Hynek into public view as a UFO expert, the role that he was to play for the rest of his life. The bulk of the clippings date from the 1970s, when UFOs and Hynek were most prominent. The 1972 publication of Hynek's book, "'The UFO Experience,'" the Oct. 1973 UFO sightings in Mississippi, the 1973 founding of the Center for UFO Studies in Evanston, and the Christmas 1977 release of Steven Spielberg's '"Close Encounters of the Third Kind'" were all major media moments for Hynek and are well documented.
Those must be four awfully big boxes.
Where do I start? With so many treasures at my fingertips, where do I dive in first? Does J. Allen Hynek have a "Rosebud?"
Maybe so. For, buried deep in the website entry, I found this: "Also included are a few pieces of promotional material and memorabilia, including a misspelled Trivial Pursuit card featuring Hynek as an answer..."
So famous... so misunderstood...
Source: anomalies-in-backyard.blogspot.com
