Dutch association of parapsychologists. The Studievereniging Voor Psychical Research (Society for Psychical Research) was founded in 1920 and launched its formal program with systematic research on telepathy and clairvoyance. Its journal, Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie, was founded in 1928 by a young college student, Wilhelm Heinrich Carl Tenhaelf, who would go on to write the first dissertation on psychical research in the Netherlands in 1933. The work of the growing society was thoroughly disrupted by the German invasion early in World War II. It recovered following the war largely through Tenhaelf’s effort. In 1953 Tenhaelf, a professor of psychology at Utrecht, was able to gain the university’s support for a chair in parapsychology and a research institute. His position as chair and director of the institute, coupled with his increasing success in research using psychic Gerard Croiset, allowed him to dominate the held in the Netherlands. That same year, the society hosted the First International Conference of Parapsychological Studies in cooperation with the Parapsychological Foundation.
Beginning in 1945, Tenhaelf edited the society’s journal and served as its president. He developed a dictatorial leadership style that came to be resented by many of his colleagues, including the equally eminent George Zorab. In 1960, Zorab and other members of SVPR founded the Nederlandse Vereniging Voor Parapsychologie as a rival organization. Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that Tenhaelf had altered his research data to produce a string of positive results. Tenhaelf’s last years were spent in dis¬ grace, and the society suffered accordingly. In the years since his death in 1981, the society has moved to recover its role in the parapsychological community.