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Westbrook Scientology Collection
H.Mss.1067  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administrative Information
  • Scope and Contents of the Collection
  • Organization and Arrangement
  • Indexing Terms

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Westbrook Scientology Collection
    Dates: 1950-2015 and undated
    Collection number: H.Mss.1067
    Creator: Westbrook, Donald A.
    Extent: 15.25 Linear Feet (11 document boxes, 1 oversized document box, 9 records boxes)
    Repository: Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library. Claremont, CA 91711.
    Abstract: Donald A. Westbrook (1985-) received his Ph.D. in Religion from Claremont Graduate University (CGU) in 2015. His dissertation, “A People’s History of the Church of Scientology,” was produced with logistical assistance from the Church of Scientology International in Los Angeles and based on formal and informal interviews with dozens of Scientologists across the United States, with the largest number conducted in the Greater Los Angeles Area. This collection includes books, lectures, periodicals, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents, and ephemera, as well as a copy of Westbrook's dissertation, and was accumulated over four years by Westbrook as part of his intensive ethnographic research on Scientology. Materials date as far back as 1950 when Hubbard authored a number of works, including Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.
    Physical location: Please consult repository.
    Language of materials: Languages represented in the collection: English and Japanese.

    Administrative Information

    Access

    Collection open for research.

    Technical Access

    CDs and DVDs require CD/DVD player. Audio cassettes require cassette player. Headphones are required for listening in the Reading Room. Patron computers in the Reading Room contain CD/DVD player. All other equipment must be brought by patron.

    Publication Rights

    All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to Special Collections.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Westbrook Scientology Collection (H.Mss.1067). Special Collections, Honnold Mudd Library, Claremont University Consortium.

    Provenance/Source of Acquisition

    Gift of Donald A. Westbrook, Ph.D., 2015.

    Accruals

    No immediate additions to the collection are anticipated; though the donor indicated a possibility of addiitions in the future.

    Processing Information

    Collection was received from Westbrook in folders and archivally sound boxes, so processing was minimal. Monographs, CDs, DVDs, periodicals and other "loose" items were placed into folders. Folders containing too many items were broken into multiple folders. Items too large for standard folders were removed to larger folders. Once a series arrangement was established based on Westbrooks's groupings of materials, some folders were re-boxed. Monographs and related items were originally boxed in early boxes (boxes 1-6). In anticipation that these items will be cataloged individually, these items were moved to the later boxes (boxes 16-21). FBI files obtained through FOIA were received on a USB drive. Files were copied to repository server for preservation and copied to CD and placed into folder for patron use. Due to the volume of these documents, only the first page of each file was printed and placed into folder.

    Biographical / Historical

    Biography
    Donald A. Westbrook (1985-) received his Ph.D. in Religion from Claremont Graduate University in 2015. His dissertation on the history of Scientology was produced with logistical assistance from the Church of Scientology International in Los Angeles and based on formal and informal interviews with dozens of Scientologists across the United States, with the largest number conducted in the Greater Los Angeles Area. As of August 2015, Westbrook has completed ethnographic fieldwork on Scientology in Los Angeles, CA; San Jose, CA; Clearwater, FL; Tampa, FL; New York, NY; Washington, DC; Phoenix, AZ; Las Vegas, NV; Salt Lake City, UT; Florence, KY; Boston, MA; Portland, OR; Bay Head, NJ; Philadelphia, PA; and London and East Grinstead (England). His Scientology monograph is forthcoming and he has written numerous articles and book chapters on the subjects of new religious movements (NRMs) and Middle Eastern Christianity. He has lectured on these topics at universities in the United States, England, Scotland, Belgium, and Estonia, and as of 2015 is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Church History at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, CA). Westbrook received an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary (2009) and B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley (2006), where he studied as a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholar.
    Brief History of Church of Scientology
    The Church of Scientology traces its founding to Los Angeles (1954), where it was incorporated on the basis of the religious philosophy of writer L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986). Scientology’s intellectual antecedent was Dianetics, which enjoyed grassroots and popular success in the early 1950s as a result of Hubbard’s Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (1950). The earliest Dianetics centers and Scientology churches of the 1950s were incorporated in the United States, for instance in Elizabeth and Camden, NJ (1953) in addition to Los Angeles, CA (1954). However, by the late 1950s, the church had a significant and growing international presence, in part due to Hubbard’s travels and lectures abroad and the relocation of international Scientology headquarters to London and then East Grinstead (England). By 1967, the locus of Scientology operations shifted again when Hubbard created the Sea Organization (Sea Org), the church’s fraternal order and most senior management body, originally based on ships in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. In 1975 Hubbard and the founding members of the Sea Org returned to the United States, eventually settling in Clearwater, FL, now home to the second-largest concentration of Scientologists in the world (after the Greater Los Angeles Area). Until his death in 1986, Hubbard continued to develop and systematize the theology and practices of Scientology. After his passing, the administration and oversight of the church has carried on through a number of ecclesiastical entities established in the early 1980s. The most prominent of these is the Religious Technology Center (RTC), which holds the trademarks of Dianetics and Scientology and is responsible for the pure and orthodox application of the religion. The head of RTC, and the ecclesiastical leader of Scientology, is David Miscavige (1960-), a second-generation Scientologist who worked with Hubbard and has held numerous other senior positions within the Sea Org.
    Source: Donald A. Westbrook, Ph.D.

    Scope and Contents of the Collection

    The collection consists of materials accumulated by Westbrook while researching his dissertation on the history of Scientology and includes books, lectures, periodicals, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents, and ephemera, as well as a copy of Westbrook's CGU dissertation (2015).
    Books include rare and first edition books as well as miscellaneous or rare secondary sources and are part of the Publications series along with course packs and periodicals. Lectures and other CDs and DVDs comprise a large series of audio/visual materials. Ephemeral materials come from Los Angeles, the Delphian School (Oregon), Saint Hill Manor (United Kingdom), Washington, D.C., the Flag Service Organization (Florida), the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, and the International Association of Scientologists. Documents obtained from the CIA and FBI under the Freedom of Information Act and Westbrook’s dissertation are included in the Research series.
    Materials date as far back as 1950 when Hubbard authored a number of works, including Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. The bulk of the materials are authored by L. Ron Hubbard, the Founder of Dianetics and Scientology. Most of the copyrights of these materials belong to the L. Ron Hubbard Library and are published by Bridge Publications, Inc. or Golden Era Productions. Some of the materials, in particular the ephemera, include trademarks and service marks held by the Religious Technology Center.

    Organization and Arrangement

    The collection was arranged into subseries by Westbrook . The subseries were then grouped into one of four series based on genre and format as follows:
    • Series 1: Audio/visual materials
    • Subseries 1.1: Lectures
    • Subseries 1.2: Other CDs and DVDs
    • Series 2: Ephemeral materials
    • Subseries 2.1: Citizens Commission on Human Rights
    • Subseries 2.2: Clearwater, Florida
    • Subseries 2.3: Delphian School, Sheridan, Oregon
    • Subseries 2.4: International Association of Scientologists
    • Subseries 2.5: International Association of Scientologiests and Los Angeles, miscellaneous
    • Subseries 2.6: Los Angeles
    • Subseries 2.7: Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead, England, United Kingdom
    • Subseries 2.8: Washington, D.C.
    • Series 3: Publications
    • Subseries 3.1: Course packs
    • Subseries 3.2: Miscellaneous/rare secondary sources
    • Subseries 3.3: Periodicals
    • Subseries 3.4: Rare and first edition books
    • Series 4: Research
    • Subseries 4.1: Donald A. Westbrook dissertation
    • Subseries 4.2: Freedom of Information Act documents
    Series, subseries, and titles are arranged in alphabetical order.

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library’s online public access catalog.

    Subject Terms

    Church of Scientology (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Church of Scientology International
    Hubbard, L. Ron (La Fayette Ron), 1911-1986
    Miscavige, David
    Dianetics
    New religious movements
    Scientology
    Scientology Doctrines
    Scientologists
    Religion
    Religion & modern culture
    United States

    Genre and Form of Materials

    Audiotapes
    Compact discs
    DVD-Video discs
    Ephemera
    Periodicals
    Publications