SHG is an association of scholars and researchers who have come together to facilitate and promote the discovery and preservation of materials, and the production and dissemination of publications, about the history of the UFO phenomenon and the institutions and persons who investigated it.

The SHG pursues these goals in the traditional manner of historians and archivists working on a subject of widespread public interest and cultural impact. Interests of the SHG include the interface of the UFO phenomenon with governmental, military, and academic concerns, folklore and popular culture, technological advances, and those aspects of the human, technical, and natural landscapes may serve to illuminate the history of the UFO phenomenon and our various human responses to it.

The SHG espouses no theory as to the cause of the UFO phenomenon, though individual members may well have their own beliefs.

The SHG is an independent, non-profit, association of persons who adhere to this Statement of Purpose and is not affiliated with any other group or philosophy. The SHG shares, whenever possible, its information and archives with all group members and all interested researchers worldwide.

Membership in SHG is not open to general members of the public and is by invitation only.