White, Rhea A(melia) (1931 )
Prominent American parapsychologist. Born May 6, 1931,
in Utica, New York, she studied at Pennsylvania State University
(B.A., 1953). After graduation she spent four years as a research
fellow at the Parapsychology Laboratory, Duke University
(1958), became a research assistant at the Foundation for
Integral Research (1959), and worked as a research and editorial
associate at the American Society for Psychical Research
(195963).
She was a charter member of the Parapsychological Association
and held the offices of secretary (1958, 1962), council
member (1958, 196063), and president (1984). She was the director
of information of the American Society for Psychical Research
beginning in 1965. She published a series of bibliographical
articles for the successive editions of Advances in
Parapsychological Research, and was editor of the Parapsychological
Associations Research in Parapsychology from
19811985. She also edited Theta for the Psychical Research
Foundation from 19811986. Her background in library science
led to the first of a series of bibliographical publications
with her 1973 Parapsychology Sources of Information.
In 1981 she founded the Parapsychology Sources of Information
Center, an organization with bibliographical control
over the vast and ever-growing body of parapsychological and
related material. The Psi-Line Database System was the first
computerized database of the literature on psychical research
and parapsychology. The center publishes Parapsychology Abstracts
International, providing brief summaries of periodical literature
from English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, German,
French, Polish, Japanese, and Russian researchers. The
centers other important publications include bibliographies
on specific paranormal topics and reading lists for students, the
general public, and specialists. In 1992 White published Parapsychology
New Sources of Information and in 1994, with Michael
Murphy, she wrote In the Zone Transcendent Experience in Sports.
White also has direct involvement in parapsychological research,
and quite apart form her bibliographical work, she has
published on a wide variety of topics. Address EHE Network,
414 Rockledge Rd., New Bern, NC 28562. Website http
www.ehe.org.
Sources
Anderson, Margaret L., and Rhea A. White. A Survey of
Work on ESP and Teacher-Pupil Attitudes. Journal of Parapsychology
22, no. 4 (1958).
Berger, Arthur S., and Joyce Berger. The Encyclopedia of
Parapsychology and Psychical Research. New York Paragon
House, 1991.
Murphy, Gardner, and Rhea White. Challenge of Psychical Research
A Primer of Parapsychology. New York Harper & Row,
1961.
Murphy, Michael, and Rhea A. White. The Psychic Side of
Sports. Reading, Mass. Addison-Wesley, 1978.
Pleasants, Helene, ed. Biographical Dictionary of Parapsychology.
New York Helix Press, 1964.
White, Rhea. Comparison of Old and New Methods of Response
to Targets in ESP Experiments. Journal of the American
Society for Psychical Research 58 (1964) 2156.
. Depth Perspectives and Experimental Parapsychology.
International Journal of Parapsychology 2, no. 2 (1960).
. ESP Score Level in Relation to Students Attitudes
Toward Teacher-Agents Acting Simultaneously. Journal of
Parapsychology 22, no. 1 (1958).
. The Relationship Between Changes in Student Attitude
and ESP Scoring. Journal of Parapsychology 22, no. 3
1958.
White, Rhea, and Laura A. Dale. Parapsychology Sources of
Information. Metuchen, N.J. Scarecrow Press, 1973.
