Probe

History

Joseph L. Ferriere edited Probe from 132 Fifth Avenue, Woonsocket, Rhode Island 02895, with a secondary address at 48 Great Brook Valley Avenue, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605. The magazine published bimonthly at 35 cents per copy, with subscriptions at $2.00 per year (six issues) domestically and $3.00 foreign. Cheques and money orders were payable to Probe Magazine. Volume 3, Number 1 (Whole Number 13) appeared in January/February 1966, placing the launch around 1964.

Probe operated with genuine infrastructure. An advisory board included Ovila Larochelle (also Treasurer), Mary Nugent, and Lionel E. Renaud. August C. Roberts served as photography consultant. Samuel S. Reynolds Jr. was staff reporter. The magazine maintained state representatives in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia (Allen Greenfield), Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island, plus contacts in Canada and Denmark.

The editorial policy stated explicitly: "The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the editors, nor do we endorse all ads." Material could be reproduced with credit to Probe Magazine. All correspondence went to Ferriere; all subscriptions to Armand Laprade. The separation of editorial and business functions, the advisory board, the state representative network, and the photography consultant all point to an organisation modelling itself on a professional magazine rather than a fan newsletter.

The presence of Allen Greenfield as Georgia representative connects Probe to the broader 1960s civilian UFO network. Greenfield simultaneously ran the American UFO Committee and would later organise the National UFO Conference. Rick Hilberg appears among the representatives listed for Ohio. These were the people who built the organisational infrastructure of American ufology in the mid-1960s, and Probe connected them across state lines.