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Inventory of the Responses to Jonestown Collection
GTU 99-11-01
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Title: Responses to Jonestown
Dates: 1978-1979
Collection number: GTU 99-11-01
Collector:
GTU Library Staff
Collection Size:
.5 linear feet (1 box, 1 folio)
Repository: The Graduate Theological Union. Library.
Berkeley, CA 94709
Abstract: This collection consists of newspaper articles, periodical
articles, and sermons reporting or commenting on the
Jonestown mass suicide in Guyana, November 1978. The
Graduate Theological Union Library staff solicited and
collected the materials from various sources.
Physical location: 2/J/3
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Graduate Theological Union. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Graduate Theological Union
as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must
also be obtained by the reader.
Responses to Jonestown, GTU 99-11-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.
This collection was collected by GTU Library Reference Staff in the months following the tragedy in Jonestown to provide library
patrons with information concerning the events and responses to the events. The Staff advertised in various denominational
publications requesting original material. The advertisement is found in File Folder 1.
Biography / Administrative History
The tragedy in Jonestown, Guyana, South America occurred on November 18, 1978. On that date, over 900 people lost their lives.
Jim Jones, born 1931 in Lynn, Indiana, opened the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis in 1956. With strong beliefs in civil rights
and advocacy for the poor, he intended the Temple to be a fully integrated congregation. He also wanted a strong personal
control over the congregation. These dual tendencies of social justice and personal control were to become more and more
pronounced with time. In 1963, the independent church associated with the Disciples of Christ, and in 1965 Jones was ordained
in that denomination. He began to do faith healing, claiming especially that he could cure cancer. Citing pending nuclear
holocaust, Jones moved the Peoples Temple congregation of approximately 100 to Redwood Valley, California. Membership began
to rise. The compound, buildings, and programs continued to expand. Armed guards patrolled the compound. Revivals and faith
healing services were held throughout California.
With a continually growing congregation, in 1972 the Temple moved to San Francisco, and another was opened in Los Angeles.
They had a newspaper and a local radio show. Jones became increasingly involved in politics. Because of his work in social
justice issues, he supported and was supported by several liberal San Francisco and California political leaders. Meanwhile,
his personal manipulation, coercion and control of his congregation grew stronger.
By 1977, as former members began to speak out about Jones and the Temple, he began to come under scrutiny by the press and
concerned relatives of Temple members. Stories circulated of fraudulent faith healing, questionable finances, welfare fraud,
sexual scandal, beatings, drugs, and the use of weapons. As early as 1974, Jones had purchased land in Guyana and set up
a settlement of about 50 persons to create a promised land. Increasingly negative publicity and increasing paranoia led Jones
to again cite a pending nuclear holocaust and race wars to move the full Peoples Temple congregation to Guyana.
The settlement was now called Jonestown. It was in a remote area, a thick jungle, in which the conditions for the people
were extremely difficult. There was little food, the housing was inadequate, the forced work exhausting and unrelenting.
Beatings and torture were used to keep the people in line. Armed guards patrolled continually. Jones made threats of mass
suicide as early as 1977, and held White Night weekly, rehearsing the congregation in suicide.
The rumors about conditions in Jonestown continued to circulate. Concerned relatives began to push California Congressman
Leo Ryan to investigate. He responded and organized a trip to Guyana for himself, the press, and concerned relatives. Because
of its remote location, they flew to an airstrip several miles from Jonestown on November 17, 1978, driving the rest of the
way by truck. The visit, that day and the following, was tightly monitored and choreographed by Jones. Even so, on the second
day of the visit, November 18, about 20 people asked the Congressman to take them out of Jonestown. The people were loaded
on the truck and driven to the airstrip. Jonestown guards followed and opened fire as the people were boarding the planes
to depart. Leo Ryan, two reporters, and some who had tried to escape with them were killed.
In Jonestown, Jim Jones led the people to mass suicide by having them drink punch laden with cyanide. Those who did not do
so willingly were forced. Some people were killed by gunfire, some by having their throats slashed. Jim Jones was found
dead of gunshot wounds. In all, 922 people died in Jonestown on November 18, 1978.
This tragedy was greeted by world wide shock, and prompted great speculation as to how and why such an event could happen.
The religious community responded to the tragedy with an outpouring of articles, sermons, and statements, from denominations,
organizations, and individuals all trying to understand how this could happen, and what were the theological, spiritual, and
personal lessons to be learned from such a tragedy.
Scope and Content of Collection
The materials were divided into three sections: Newspaper Articles, Sermons, and Journal Articles. These were housed in
three separate black three-ring binders. The newsclippings have been photocopied, and the originals discarded except for
the complete editions of two newspapers found in Folio 1: Guyana Chronicle and the Caribbean Contact.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Jones, Jim, 1931-1978.
Peoples Temple.
Jonestown Mass Suicide, Jonestown, Guyana, 1978.