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Kathleen Goddard Jones Papers
MS 119
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Title: Kathleen Goddard Jones Papers
Date (inclusive): 1933-2001
Date (bulk): (bulk 1964-1994)
Collection number: MS 119
Creator:
Goddard Jones, Kathleen, 1907-2001
Extent:
76 document boxes
Repository:
Special Collections, Robert E. Kennedy Library
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, California 93407
The Environmental Archives of San Luis Obispo County
PO Box 8601
San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-8106
Abstract: Papers of environmental activist Kathleen Goddard Jones, including correspondence, clippings, research files, organization
records, and 35mm slides, primarily relating to her efforts to protect the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes on the central coast of
California, her participation in regional and national Sierra Club efforts, and other activities in defense of the ecosystems
of California, donated by Kathleen Goddard Jones in 1993.
Donated by Kathleen Goddard Jones in 1993, the Kathleen Goddard Jones Papers are part of the San Luis Obispo County Environmental
Archives, housed in and administered by Special Collections at Cal Poly.
Collection is open to qualified researchers by appointment only. For more information on access policies and to obtain a copy
of the Researcher Registration form, please visit the Special Collections Access page. Collection stored remotely. Advance
notice for use required.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
In order to reproduce, publish, broadcast, exhibit, and/or quote from this material, researchers must submit a written request
and obtain formal permission from Special Collections, Cal Poly, as the owner of the physical collection. Researchers should
also consult with an appropriate staff member regarding literary or other intellectual property rights pertaining to this
collection.
Photocopying of material is permitted at staff discretion and provided on a fee basis. Photocopies are not to be used for
any purpose other than for private study, scholarship, or research. Special Collections staff reserves the right to limit
photocopying and deny access or reproduction in cases when, in the opinion of staff, the original materials would be harmed.
Kathleen Goddard Jones Papers, San Luis Obispo County Environmental Archives, California Polytechnic State University, San
Luis Obispo, Calif.
Willis and Nellie Goddard's daughter, Kathleen, was born in Sacramento on July 2, 1907. A few months after her birth, her
parents relocated to Santa Barbara, where her father was secretary of the YMCA. Her love of nature began on hikes with her
family into the surrounding countryside and grew with her participation in Campfire Girls. "At the age of twelve I began to
really hike," she recalled, "to go to the higher peaks and to learn to sleep outdoors and to cook outdoors, and to find that
this was something that was important to me...and has continued to be one of the most important facets of my whole life: a
kinship with the earth, a spiritual refreshment from moving easily along trails and over the contours of the earth."
Goddard Jones attended college in Santa Barbara for a year, then traveled in Europe with friends for several months. Upon
her return, she enrolled as a English major at Mills College in Oakland. Cedric Wright, a music professor at Mills, was active
in the Sierra Club and encouraged Goddard Jones to participate and introduced her to his friend, Ansel Adams.
She left Mills at the end of her junior year and was married to Ali Shirazi Parvaz. They lived in India, Burma, and Iran for
several years. They returned to the United States, where Goddard Jones worked in radio, at NBC, for nearly eight years. Goddard
Jones then divorced her first husband and returned to California, marrying Duncan P. Jackson in 1945. They adopted several
children.
In 1949, Goddard Jones joined the Sierra Club, primarily so she could go on their annual trip to the High Sierra with her
old mentor, Cedric Wright. It was on this two-week hike that many important relationships were formed with national leaders
of the Sierra Club, including David Brower.
Also in 1949, Goddard Jones helped found the Santa Barbara Group of the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club, which became the
Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club in February of 1952. She served as chair for several years, and in 1956 became a delegate
to the national Sierra Club Council, which she eventually chaired from 1956-1957.
Goddard Jones had moved to Paso Robles, where she once again helped form a new local Sierra Club group as part of the Santa
Barbara Chapter. The Santa Lucia Group first met on November 9, 1961; the first outing was a hike shortly after the new year
through the Nipomo Dunes, near Oso Flaco Lake. The trip became a permanent annual outing, which Goddard Jones led from 1962
to 1995. In October of 1968, the San Luis Obispo County members attained chapter status for the Santa Lucia group.
Goddard Jones's most important efforts led to the preservation of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes. "I want everyone to know what
a lovely place we have out here on the mesa," she said. "It is a wealth of beauty, and all of it is free."
Goddard Jones's growing environmental activism led to a split with her conservative husband and the Jacksons were divorced
in August of 1966. On August 21, 1971, she married Gaylord Jefferson Jones, who shared her love of the Dunes and the outdoors.
In the early 1960s, she saw a newspaper article announcing that utility company Pacific Gas & Electric had acquired dune land
for a nuclear power plant. That article sparked Goddard Jones's campaign of 13 years, including meetings, letter writing,
field trips, and political campaigns, to have the nuclear power plant relocated elsewhere and the dunes preserved.
In a 1967 statement before the Public Utilities Commission, Goddard Jones stated: "I am a native Californian.... I have been
a member of conservation organizations since childhood and am presently a member of The Nature Conservancy, the Wilderness
Society, the Audubon Society, the California Native Plant Society, the Planning and Conservation League for Legislative Action,
and the most significant conservation organization in the United States, the national Sierra Club, which I am an unusually
active member. For the Sierra Club I have participated in its program of growth during the past seventeen years on local,
state, and national levels. For the past four years, I have been a full-time, volunteer conservationist and currently fulfill
an appointment from the president of the Sierra Club as the Sierra Club Coordinator for the Preservation of the Nipomo Dunes
on [San Luis Obispo County]'s south coast. Among all conservation problems, my interest and energy have been chiefly centered
in good land use, in wise land planning – and particularly in the dual challenge (here in our magnificent California) of promoting
wholesome outdoor recreation and at the same time protecting and preserving significant scenic resources. But more important
for this hearing is the fact that I know intimately the land of San Luis Obispo County: by airplane, auto, jeep, sand buggy
and horseback... but best of all, on foot! The lands of San Luis Obispo County, of which I speak, are lands that I know!"
In 1974, PG&E sold 857 acres of dune land to the state for a park and sought another location for the nuclear power plant.
Of this decision, Sunset magazine Matthew Jaffe wrote, "PG&E's eventual decision to build its plant in a little-known spot
farther north, Diablo Canyon, led to criticism of Jones by both environmentalists (who opposed all nuclear power plants) and
locals (who were angry about the loss of tax revenue and building contracts). But the process of saving the dunes had begun.
That effort to preserve what Jones describes as "this incomparable coast" now includes players from a wide philosophical and
administrative spectrum; among them are The Nature Conservancy, oil companies, off-road-vehicle advocates, the U.S. Air Force,
and local farmers."
In 1983, the Regional Oral History Office at UC Berkeley interviewed Goddard Jones for their Sierra Club Oral History Series.
Goddard Jones remained active on behalf of the Dunes until her death on October 2, 2001.
Sources
Social Security Administration, Social Security Death Index, Master File. Ancestry.com http://www.ancestry.com, accessed 12
Sept. 2007
Anne Van Tyne, interview with Kathleen Goddard Jones, "Defender of California's Nipomo Dunes, Steadfast Sierra Club Volunteer."
The Sierra Club Nationwide II, 1984 http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/subjectarea/natres/sierraclub.html
Sue Hagen, "A Guided Tour: Black Lake Canyon: The Mesa Fairyland." Five Cities Times-Press-Recorder [Arroyo Grande, Calif.]
16 June 1978
"Statement of Kathleen Jackson before California Public Utilities Commission on February 17, 1967, San Luis Obispo." Box 16
Folder 7, ts, Kathleen Goddard Jones Papers, Special Collections, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Matthew Jaffe, "California's Ultimate Sea of Sand — Nipomo Dunes." Sunset Oct 1992 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_n4_v189/ai_12884195
This collection contains the extant papers of environmental activist Kathleen Goddard Jones of Arroyo Grande, California.
When originally appraised on site in November of 1992, the Goddard Jones materials consisted of an estimated 85 linear feet,
including visual media. At her death, approximately 60 linear feet of material were transferred to the archives. Plant samples
were transferred to another depository. During processing, most duplicates were recycled, which reduced the collection size
to 30 linear feet.
The provenance, or original organization, of the papers was haphazard. In order to simplify access to the collection for researchers,
most materials were refoldered and reorganized, while some were shifted and renamed to more accurately reflect the contents.
The collection is divided into seven series:
1. Personal and Professional Papers, 1933-2001
2. Sierra Club Records, 1950-1993
3. Non-Profit and Government Affiliations, 1954-1987
4. Advocacy and Watchdog Efforts, 1949-1990
5. Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Conservation, 1964-1990s
6. Research Materials, 1955-1995
7. Visual Media, 1960s-1970s
The Goddard Jones Papers are housed in 28 Hollinger boxes and 11 wardrobe boxes, with Series 2 - Sierra Club Records, 1950-1993
and Series 5 - Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Conservation, 1964-1990s containing the most extensive and unique portions of the collection.
Series 4.A. contains the bulk of Goddard Jones's correspondence, with references to the wide range of her activities in environmental
activism.
Geographical locations noted in this guide are in California unless noted otherwise.
A generous gift from Harold Miossi funded the arrangement and description of this collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Black Lake Canyon (Calif.)
Chipping, David Hugh. 19XX-XX--Correspondence
Conservationists--California--Biography
Denneen, Bill L., 19XX-XX--Correspondence
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Powerplant (Calif.)--History
Environmental protection--California--San Luis Obispo County--Citizen participation
Land use--Environmental aspects--California--San Luis Obispo County--History
Liquefied natural gas--California--San Luis Obispo County
Liquefied natural gas--California--Santa Barbara County
McMillan, Ian I., 1905-1991--Correspondence
Miossi, Harold, 1922-2006--Correspondence
Natural history--California--San Luis Obispo County
Natural history--California--Santa Barbara County
Off-Road Vehicles--California
Oso Flaco Lake (Calif.)
San Luis Obispo County (Calif.)--Biography
San Luis Obispo County (Calif.)--History
Santa Barbara County (Calif.)--History
Sierra Club - Santa Lucia Chapter
Sierra Club
Wilson, Lee, 1904-1989 Correspondence
Correspondence
Clippings
Organization records
Government documents
35mm slides
Field notes
Research files
Related Collections
Special Collections, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo:
Enrico Bongio Papers, 1952-1993 (MS 124)
Harold Miossi Papers, 1942-1990 (MS 112)
Ian McMillan Papers, 1925-1990 (MS 111)
Lee Wilson Papers, 1956-1989 (MS 113)
Materials Cataloged Separately
Anne Van Tyne, interview with Kathleen Goddard Jones, "Defender of California's Nipomo Dunes, Steadfast Sierra Club Volunteer."
The Sierra Club Nationwide II, 1984 http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/subjectarea/natres/sierraclub.html
The Environmental Archives of San Luis Obispo County was founded in the summer of 1992 when environmental activist Harold
Miossi invited leaders in local environmental causes to gather and discuss how best to preserve "the letters, writings, photos,
publications, and thinking of ... prominent [local] conservationists for present students and for posterity." Miossi further
proposed that the archives be established at Cuesta College, as "a fitting repository since the College District embraces
all of San Luis Obispo County." Cuesta College president Grace Mitchell approved the project, stating, "Cuesta College is
proud to make this contribution to our county's future." The Cuesta College Foundation agreed to sponsor the project, and
Miossi contributed the first major gift to the Cuesta College Foundation for the new archives.
The principal mission of the Environmental Archives of San Luis Obispo County is as follows: "To collect, preserve and make
available for research the writings, documents, and photographs dealing with the history and development of the environmental
movement in San Luis Obispo County." The archives include the papers of five local activists: Harold Miossi, Ian McMillan,
Lee Wilson, Enrico Bongio, and Kathleen Goddard Jones.