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Source: https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-...5/11/REI35.pdf

Abstract-Ian Stevenson began researching cases of young children who
claimed to remember previous lives in 1961. His approach involved a rational,
scientific attempt to discern exactly what the children said about a previous life
and how much of it could be verified to be accurate for one particular deceased
individual. He discovered that cases could be found all over the world. He also
learned that memories were not the only items that seemed to carry over for
these children. A number had birthmarks that matched wounds suffered by the
previous person, and many demonstrated anxieties or emotional longing that
appeared to be derived from the previous events that they described.
Researchers have now studied over 2500 cases in a project that is still
ongoing. This review traces the history of these investigations and presents the
current work, which includes increasing use of a database containing over 200
variables for each case. The conclusions that can and cannot be drawn from the
research are examined, and future studies to be done in this area are considered.

Ian Stevenson came to the University of Virginia to be the chairman of the
Department of Psychiatry in 1957. He had published extensively in medical
and psychiatric journals by that time, primarily in the area of psychosomatic
medicine, but he also harbored an interest in parapsychology. When the
American Society for Psychical Research announced a contest in 1958 for the
best essay "on the topic of paranormal mental phenomena and their
relationship to the problem of survival of the human personality after bodily
death," Stevenson submitted the winning entry, entitled "The Evidence for
Survival from Claimed Memories of Former Incarnations" (Stevenson, 1960).
544 J. B. Tucker
sources of individuals, mostly young children, from various parts of the world
who had described memories of previous lives.
After Stevenson's paper was published, two people who read it would have
a significant impact on his career. One was Eileen Garrett, a well-known
medium who was President of the Parapsychology Foundation. She learned
of a child in India who was making statements like those in Stevenson's paper.
She asked Stevenson if he would be interested in investigating the case and
offered him a small grant to do so. He accepted and went to India in 1961. By
the time of the trip, he had learned of five cases, but once there, he found 25
cases in four weeks. Similarly, after hearing of one or two cases in Ceylon (Sri
Lanka), Stevenson spent a week there and saw seven cases. He realized that
children's claims of past-life memories were much more common than anyone
had known.
Another person who read Stevenson's article with great interest was Chester
Carlson, the inventor of xerography, the basis for the Xerox Corporation.
Carlson offered to fund research into these cases, and though Stevenson initially
turned down the offer because of his obligations as chairman of his department,
he eventually began devoting more time to the cases with Carlson's help.
In 1966, Stevenson published his first book of these reports, Twenty Cases
Suggestive of Reirzcarrzatiorz (Stevenson, 1966). The title is indicative of
Stevenson's even-handed approach, in which he did not accept that reincarnation
occurred and did not take the cases at face value. Instead, he attempted to
document the cases as carefully as possible and at times in exhaustive detail.
With Carlson's funding, Stevenson stepped down as chairman of the department in 1967 to focus full time on the research. He created a small research
division (now known as the Division of Perceptual Studies) in which to carry on
the work. The following year, Carlson died unexpectedly. Stevenson thought
he would have to resume his mainstream career, since he was dependent on
Carlson's funding, until it was discovered that in his will, Carlson had left over
$1 million dollars to the University of Virginia for this work. A controversy
broke out over whether the university would accept the money, given the unusual nature of the research, but eventually it did and the work continued.