Guide to the Pederson, Duane, Jesus People International, and Hollywood Free Paper Collection
Finding Aid Authors: Kelly Muhonen.
© Copyright 2012 David Allan Hubbard Library Archives. All rights reserved.
135 N. Oakland Avenue
Pasadena, CA, 91182-0002
URL: http://library.fuller.edu/archives/
Email: archives@fuller.edu
Phone: (626) 584-5311
Fax: (626) 584-5613
Guide to the Pederson, Duane, Jesus People International, and Hollywood Free Paper Collection 1953/2011
David Allan Hubbard Library Archives
Collection Title: Pederson, Duane, Jesus People International, and Hollywood Free Paper Collection
Dates: 1953-2011
Bulk Dates: 1969-1979
Identification: CFT00066
Creator:
Pederson, Duane
Physical Description: 28.00
Repository:
David Allan Hubbard Library Archives
135 N. Oakland Avenue
Pasadena, CA, 91182-0002
URL: http://library.fuller.edu/archives/
Email: archives@fuller.edu
Phone: (626) 584-5311
Fax: (626) 584-5613
Note:
Other Information:
Additional information may be found at http://www.hollywoodfreepaper.org/
Duane Pederson (1938-), a key figure in the Jesus Movement, was raised in Minnesota and moved to California to pursue a career
as an entertainer. He started the Hollywood Free Paper in 1969 as a Christian response to the countercultural underground
newspapers. Circulation grew rapidly and the HFP became the most widely distributed Jesus paper, spreading news of the Jesus
Movement from California to Europe. In an interview with a reporter, Pederson coined the term “Jesus People.” Through the
Hollywood Free Paper, he became a well-known voice for the Jesus People throughout the 1970s, providing leadership and bringing cohesion to the
Movement from California to Europe and Asia. Additionally, he sponsored many of the concerts at the Hollywood Palladium that
drew together some of the best Christian musicians of the day. From the beginning, his ministry extended to the poor and marginalized.
He worked extensively with Corrie ten Boom in ministry to prisoners, and he served as pastor of a church in Venice with an
active ministry to street children. In the 1980s, Pederson became an evangelist in the Missionary Church and was later ordained
as a priest in the Antiochian Orthodox Church. As of 2010, Pederson continues his ministry to prisoners and the poor.
“From 1969 through roughly 1975, the
Hollywood Free Paper served as a tangible voice, gathering place, communication medium, and billboard for the Jesus Movement... At the peak of
the Movement, the circulation of the HFP surpassed half a million copies. By the time he started the
HFP in October 1969, founding editor Duane Pederson was already involved in street ministry on the gritty boulevards of downtown
Hollywood, a shell of the once bright motion picture colony whose dark streets, then as now, were home to drug dealers, prostitutes
and pimps. Every intersection was lined with newspaper racks offering lurid underground tabloids. ‘Everywhere I looked,’
Duane later recalled, ‘there were underground papers preaching revolution, sex, drugs, everything. I knew something was missing:
there were no underground papers preaching the truth. Not a single one. I said, 'Jesus, if You'll give me the means with which
to do it, I'll put out a newspaper telling people about You.' Three days later, ten thousand copies of the first edition of
the Hollywood Free Paper rolled off the presses at a local printer, and Duane and his friends began handing them out on the
streets of Los Angeles… Within two days, Box 1949 was jammed with mail from street people wanting to know more about Jesus
and this new Movement. Many of the letters were scrawled in pencil and were barely legible, a few were typewritten, but all
expressed the same hunger: ‘If your Jesus is really for real, man, I want to know more. I’d like to rap with you about the
guy. Where can we meet? Are you gonna have another paper?’… Circulation grew rapidly, with much of the added readership coming
from reprinting and distribution outside southern California in Kansas City, Minneapolis, Worcester, Detroit, and Cleveland.
At the Movement's peak the
HFP was distributed in each of the 50 states and in nearly a dozen foreign countries. But ‘As far as we are able to recall,’
Duane would later write, ‘Every desperate cry for help has come from a Free Paper that they found in the gutter, or on the
street, or in some dirty restroom or alley.’”
This Collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Jesus People
United Missionary Church
Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Religion.
Hollywood Free Paper
Gift
Scholarly use within parameters of copyright law.
Supervised use only.
Physical Characteristics or Technical Requirements:
For full Finding Aid email the archives.
Reel to reel tapes not available for viewing.
Duane Pederson, Jesus People International, and the Hollywood Free Paper had a significant role in the development of the
Jesus People Movement beginning in the late 1960s. The diversity of materials in the collection attests to Pederson’s range
of ministry involvement and his ongoing commitment to work with the poor and with prisoners. The collection includes a complete
set of all issues of the Hollywood Free Paper, various Jesus People publications, ministry newsletters, correspondence, recordings,
films, posters, artwork, memorabilia, and over 15,000 photos preserved by Duane Pederson. Awards, clippings, and other documentation
are also found in the collection. Additionally, materials relating to the Jesus People Opening at Fuller on May 15-16, 2010
are included as well.
Detailed List of Contents
ArchonID: id401
Correspondence
This series contains (in the following order): alphabetized correspondence files, letters to the editor of the Hollywood Free
Paper and donation letters, letters of endorsement of Duane Pederson, greeting cards to Pederson, samples of the letterhead
and stationery used by Pederson’s various ministries, and Pederson’s address book. The alphabetized files include correspondence
from Kathryn Kuhlman.
ArchonID: id402
Ministries
This series contains documents relating to Duane Pederson’s various ministries (in the following order): Jesus People, the
Missionary Church, children’s ministry, prison ministry, and Duane Pederson Ministries. The Jesus People documents include
support letters, financial reports, and items used for publicity. The Missionary church documents include papers and correspondence
from both of Pederson’s tenures as pastor of the Missionary Church in Venice in the mid-1970s and again in the early 1980s,
as well as his years as a denominational evangelist. Pederson’s children’s ministry spanned his time in the Jesus People through
the Missionary Church and beyond. Many of the documents in this section relate to the Christmas for Kids ministry as well
as Pederson’s ministry to children in Mexico. Prison ministry documents include the various iterations of the ministry, including
International Christian Ministries, Christian Prison Volunteers, and the Association of Christian Prison Workers. A training
manual for prison volunteers is included. The materials related to Duane Pederson Ministries include newsletters and Christmas
letters, training manuals, publicity items, and various other ministry reports.
ArchonID: id403
Photos
This series contains over 15,000 photos and negatives from the Jesus People era to Duane Pederson’s ministry in the 1990s.
The Jesus People collection includes photos of Duane Pederson, beach baptisms, concerts and musicians, gatherings, and Jesus
People rallies during the 1970s. Noteworthy photos include those of Corrie ten Boom, Kathryn Kuhlman, Lewi Pethrus, Brother
Andrew, Pat Boone, Larry Norman, Jack Sparks, Linda Meissner, and Lonnie Frisbee. Many of the photos were printed in issues
of the Hollywood Free Paper and other Jesus People publications. The photos are arranged chronologically insofar as possible.
The series also includes copies of the photos on 15 CDs. Four boxes at the end of the series contain enlarged and oversized
photos, some of which are mounted as posters to use for displays and publicity.
ArchonID: id404
Personal Items and Memorabilia
This series predominantly contains personal items and memorabilia from the Jesus People era, although other periods of Pederson’s
ministry are represented as well. These items include 29 different Jesus People posters, original artwork from the Hollywood
Free Paper and other publications, clothing, Jesus People bumper stickers and buttons, other memorabilia, awards given to
Duane Pederson, and three scrapbooks. The clothing items include Jesus People t-shirts, the fringe leather jacket frequently
worn by Pederson in photos as well as the fringed Bible he carried. Several of the memorabilia items bear the “One Way” logo
that was distinctive of the Jesus People.
ArchonID: id405
Media
This series includes reel to reel, videos, records, slides, and cassettes. The Jesus People pilot and recordings from the
Jesus People Festivals are of particular note. Pederson’s sermons at the Venice church, sessions from the Congress for Prison
Ministries, and training programs for the prison volunteer ministry are also part of this series.
ArchonID: id419
Collected Materials
This series includes books, newspaper and magazine clippings, and periodicals collected by Duane Pederson. Most clippings
date from the Jesus People era. A list of separated periodicals appears at the end of the collection. This series also includes
materials relating to the Jesus People Opening at Fuller Theological Seminary May 15-16, 2010. Items include address lists
and guest lists, the program for the opening, Duane Pederson’s remarks and Dr. David Bundy’s remarks, as well as filmed footage.
Consult an archivist for access to digital photos and materials.