Which archives or databases contain original Cayce readings and outcomes for quantitative study?
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Executive summary
The complete corpus of Edgar Cayce’s original readings — about 14,306 trance “readings” — is conserved and made available for research chiefly through Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) and the Edgar Cayce Foundation (E.C.F.), which hold original transcripts, case files, indexes and a searchable member database [1] [2] [3]. Large public digital aggregations and reproductions exist on Internet Archive collections that include books, searchable text dumps and compiled “mega collections” useful for preliminary quantitative work [4] [5] [6].
1. Where the originals live: the A.R.E. and Edgar Cayce Foundation vaults
The archival home for the original Cayce readings and related case files is the organization that grew from Cayce’s work: the A.R.E. and its archive arm, the Edgar Cayce Foundation. The Foundation’s collections include original copies of readings, stenographer notebooks, appointment books, correspondence, indexes and preservation reports, and they maintain a physical vault and curated archival collections for researcher access under policy guidelines [2] [7] [8].
2. What “original” means in practice: transcripts, stenographer notes, and case files
Original materials are not only a printed book but consist of the shorthand notes and typewritten copies produced contemporaneously: Gladys Davis Turner’s shorthand notebooks and the two typewritten copies produced for each reading — one for the subject and one retained in a case file — form the evidentiary core of the collection [8] [9]. The Foundation states the records bear file numbers and are arranged by Turner’s numbering system, enabling case-level retrieval [10] [8].
3. Access models: on-site, member databases, and permission rules
A.R.E. offers an online, searchable database of the complete readings through a member-only section of its website; the Foundation’s archival repository is open to researchers but requires compliance with the E.C.F. Reference Policy and authorization to publish, quote or reproduce [11] [10] [12]. The archival guide warns that release of recipient identities is governed by specific Foundation rules [10] [12].
4. Public, free, and intermediary digital sources you can use for quantitative work
Researchers can supplement Foundation access with public digital resources: Internet Archive hosts multiple Cayce volumes, compendia and a large “Edgar Cayce Mega Collection” that includes searchable text files and indexes — practical for large-text mining or preliminary corpus assembly when Foundation-provided data aren’t accessible immediately [4] [5] [6].
5. What’s available for statistical or medical analysis now
A.R.E. historically produced topical “Circulating Files” and Research Bulletins that aggregate readings by subject and have included statistical analyses for causes and treatments recommended by Cayce; these are intended as research tools and suggest existing topic-level work that quantitative analysts can build on [13]. The Foundation’s preserved indexes and inventories support comprehensive searches across the full corpus [2] [13].
6. Scholarly context and reliability debates you must factor in
Academic treatments flag both value and limits: scholarship recognizes Cayce’s large documented corpus and influence on holistic movements, but also warns of interpretive limits — readings reflect recipients’ contexts and the trance medium’s fallibility — meaning any quantitative study requires careful operationalization of variables and provenance checks [14] [15].
7. Practical research steps and permissions to obtain
For rigorous, original-source quantitative analysis: contact the E.C.F./A.R.E. archives to request researcher access and clarify publishing permissions and identity-release policies [10] [12]; join A.R.E. or arrange access to their member database for the searchable corpus [11] [16]; harvest public Internet Archive text collections for hypothesis development and coding trials while formal permissions are pending [4] [5].
8. Limitations and transparency obligations for researchers
Be explicit about provenance: note whether your dataset comes from Foundation originals, the A.R.E. member database, or Internet Archive derivatives; disclose redactions (recipient privacy rules) and the editorial layers (transcription, extracts, circulating files) that may affect coding and statistical inference [8] [10] [13]. Available sources do not mention independent third‑party machine‑readable exports of the entire official corpus without A.R.E. membership or E.C.F. permission (not found in current reporting).
Sources: A.R.E. site and archives; Edgar Cayce Foundation collection descriptions; Internet Archive Cayce collections; scholarly overview [1] [11] [12] [2] [8] [10] [4] [5] [13] [14] [6].