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Call Number: MSS 449 (A15-66)
Dates: 1966-2015
Extent: 0.04 m of textual records
Biographical History:
Young, David Patrick (1936-1994)
Spiritualist medium David Patrick Young was born in Killiney, Ireland on February 28th or 29th, 1936. In the 1950s he trained as an accountant, and worked for firms in London and Reading throughout the late 1950s and 1960s. During this time, the clairvoyant and clairaudient experiences he had had since his youth became more pronounced, and he joined the Greater World Christian Spiritualist League, headed by Mrs. Ella Sheridan, who became his mentor. Through the Greater World, he eventually held a diploma which accredited him as a medium for that organization and certified his eligibility to work on the church platform.
From the 1970s, David was affiliated with the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain and gave private consultations at its offices in Belgrave Square, London, and in 1971, he was giving demonstrations and consultations fulltime. He began touring as a medium, and first visited Canada in 1972 as a guest of the Vancouver Psychic Society, finally emigrating there with his partner, Gwyn Davis, in 1977. He participated in a variety of radio and television shows as a clairvoyant, including call-in shows, a weekly spot on the CKVU Vancouver Show and an hour-long David Young Special.
In the late 1970s, he was ordained as a minister of the International Spiritualist Alliance (ISA), and in 1981, David Young, Gwyn Lewis, and Reverend Mary Cecilia Hietanen founded the Spiritualist Church of Universal Brotherhood in New Westminster, British Columbia, where David was a minister and platform medium. In 1985, David and Gwyn founded the First Spiritualist Church of North Vancouver, but it was disbanded upon their return to England in early 1987. His ordination was recognized by the Christian Spiritualist Society, and he continued to work as a medium and demonstrator in the UK. In 1994, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, and passed on 24 September of that year.
Meyer zu Erpen, Walter (1958-)
A graduate of the University of British Columbia Master of Archival Studies program, Walter Meyer zu Erpen has been president and archivist of the Survival Research Institute of Canada since its creation in 1991. Meyer zu Erpen has also played an active part in local and British Columbia politics. As a member of the Green Party, he ran for Victoria municipal council in 1999, coming only 180 votes shy of winning the seat. In 2001, he ran provincially and placed third. He also served the party as Campaign Manager for the 2005 election and co-manager for the 2009 election and served provincially as Fund-Raising Chair from 2003-2005 and Party Chair from 2007-2009.
Survival Research Institute of Canada (1991-)
The Survival Research Institute of Canada was founded in 1991. The institute aimed to pursue and promote studies in the field of survival research, which is investigation into whether some part of the human consciousness or personality, commonly referred to as spirit, survives physical death and whether that spirit is able to communicate with the living. Based in Victoria, BC, its representatives carry out the following activities: undertaking research into the history of Spiritualism and psychical research in Canada (including study of the work of Canadian psychical researcher, Dr. Thomas Glendenning Hamilton, and the relationship of Spiritualist table-tilting phenomena documented by Hamilton and others to theories about psychokinesis); taking part in experiments connected to evidence of spirit survival brought through mediumship; sponsoring public education on subjects relevant to survival research through workshops, lectures, and demonstrations of mediumship; participating in media interviews; presenting academic lectures in Canada, the United States and Europe; and directing relevant records of Canadian organizations and individuals to appropriate archival repositories. On May 24, 2000, the institute was federally incorperated and became a registered charity. The founding members were: Walter Meyer zu Erpen and Debra Barr, two noted Canadian archivists, Walter Keoki Quan, Claus Michael Thomsen, Janice Irene Stromgren, Paul Dennis Biscop, and Lolita Nevon Wilson.
Custodial history: David Young gave the scrapbook to Walter Meyer zu Erpen ca. 1986-1987, who transferred it to the University of Manitoba Archives and Special Collections in 2015. Gwyn Lewis or another of David Young’s friends in Canada likely created the scrapbook. The ‘second scrapbook’ of photocopied articles and the tribute were created by the Survival Research Institute of Canada (Walter Meyer zu Erpen, and Margaret West for the scrapbook) and were transferred in 2015.
Scope and content: This fonds consists of a 23-page scrapbook of photocopied newspaper clippings covering David Young’s early career as a medium (1966-1979); a printout of now assembled and scanned photocopies of news clippings about David Young that cover years 1975-1996, compiled by SRIC; and “Young Mediums Never Die, They Only Lose Their Bodies,” a tribute to David Young written by Walter Meyer zu Erpen from 1994-1997.
Restrictions: There are no restrictions on this material.
Accruals: Further accruals are not expected.
Finding aid: A printed preliminary inventory for the A.95-20 accession is available