Inventory of the Responses to Jonestown Collection
Lucinda Glenn
Graduate Theological Union Archives
Graduate Theological Union
2400 Ridge Road
Berkeley, California, 94709
Phone: (510) 649-2523/2501
Email: archives@gtu.edu
URL: http://gtu.edu/library/information/special-collections
© 2008
Graduate Theological Union. All rights reserved.
Inventory of the Responses to Jonestown Collection
Collection number: GTU 99-11-01
Graduate Theological Union Archives
Graduate Theological Union
Berkeley, California
- Processed by:
- Lucinda Glenn
- Date Completed:
- 11/22/1999
- Encoded by:
- David Stiver
© 2008 Graduate Theological Union. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
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.
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
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
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.
Preferred Citation
Responses to Jonestown, GTU 99-11-01. Graduate Theological Union Archives, Berkeley, CA.
Acquisition Information
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.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Jones, Jim, 1931-1978.
Peoples Temple.
Jonestown Mass Suicide, Jonestown, Guyana, 1978.
Bibliography
Marshall Kilduff and Ron Javers,
The Suicide Cult: The Inside Story of the Peoples Temple Sect and the Massacre in Guyana. Bantam Books: NY, 1978.
1
Newspaper Articles
Nov 1978-Jan 1979
Physical Description: 26 folders, 1 folio
Scope and Content Note
Box 1, Folders 1-31. Arranged chronologically. Includes articles from various U.S. denominational newspapers. Of particular
interest are the articles from Caribbean newspapers: the Express (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad), Catholic News (Port-of-Spain,
Trinidad), Guyana Chronicle (Georgetown, Guyana)and and the Caribbean Contact (Bridgetown, Barbados.
Folio 1. A full original special edition of Guyana Chronicle, Dec. 6, 1978, and a full original edition of the Caribbean
Contact, Dec. 1978.
2
Sermons
June 1978-Mar 1979
Physical Description: 32 folders
Scope and Content Note
Box 1. Folders 27-59. Arranged alphabetically by author.
box-folder 1:27
Anonymous, "You Will Know Them by Their Fruits"
folder 28
Statement from the Berkeley, CA, Area Interfaith Council
folder 29
Balfour Brickner, "America's Dream Time"
folder 30
John E. Burciaga, "Lessons of the Guyana Tragedy"
folder 31
Ann W. Carson, "Is Life Spelled Backwards"
folder 32
William P. Clancey, untitled
folder 33
Max Coots, "The Cult Mentality"
folder 34
John A. Crane, "The Meaning of the Jonestown Disaster"
folder 35
Roger Fritts, "Children of Yearning"
folder 36
Harmon M. Gehr, "Cults and the Bicameral Mind"
folder 37
Dale W. Hallberg, "The Guyana Experiment"
folder 38
Richard C. Herbert, "Jonestown: The Poisoned Flock"
folder 39
George L. Hunt, "Christianity and Cults"
folder 40
Jerry James, "The Sins of the Fathers are Visited Upon Us - Now What"
folder 42
Andrew C. Kennedy, "A Little Bit of Jonestown in All of Us"
folder 43
Kenneth V. Kettlewell, "Jonestown - Everytown"
folder 45
Marjorie N. Leaming, "The Unitarian Universalist Movement or How to Fill a Sieve"
folder 46
James A. Magaw, "Why Does Religious Fanatacism Still Prosper"
folder 47
Robert S. Magee, "The People's Temple Commune"
folder 48
Raymond G. Manker, "Of Cyanide in Kool-aid"
folder 49
Robert A. McKenzie, "The Day of Our Lord"
folder 50
Hugh M. Miller, "The Church and the Sunshine Law"
folder 51
Spiller Milton, "Testing the Witness of the Spirit Scripture"
folder 52
John V. Moore, "A Witness to Tragedy and Resurrection" (see also 75, reprint of sermon in Church at Work)
folder 53
Dwyn M. Mounger, "Guyana, Guilt, and Grace"
folder 54
Donald L. Padget, "Reflections on Guyana"
folder 55
Kenneth W. Phifer, "A Nightmare Come True"
folder 56
Bob Rowell, "Religions and Cults"
folder 57
Paul Sawyer, "Thru a Glass Darkly"
folder 58
Ernest H. Sommerfeld, "The Missing Word"
folder 59
Charles S. Stephen, "A Passionate Intensity"
3
Journal Articles
June 1978-Mar 1979
Physical Description: 28 folders
Scope and Content Note
Box 1. Folders 60-88. Arranged alphabetically by author.
folder 60
Joan Beck, "Many Questions Raised by Jonestown Tragedy,"
Lutheran Standard
folder 61
David Bergner, "What Can We Learn from People's Temple" and "Who Joins Cults",
The Church Herald
folder 62
C.F. Bowen, Editorial, "To Whom Are We Giving God's Money,"
The Free Will Baptist
folder 63
Robert C. Cunningham, Editorial, "Sometimes the Cup We Have to Drink is Bitter,"
Pentecostal Evangelical
folder 64
Editorial, "The Dark Night of Jonestown,"
America
folder 65
Editorial,
White Wing Messenger
folder 66
Editorial, "Holocaust in the Jungle,"
The Sabbath Recorder
folder 67
Editorials,
New World Outlook
folder 68
Howard G. Hageman, "Mindless Religion," journal unknown
folder 69
Steve A. Igarta, "The Cry of Jonestown," (typed mss)
folder 70
Philip E. Jenks, "Fanatics and the Merely Faithful,"
American Baptist Magazine
folder 71
R.J. Kerstan, Editorial, "A Lesson from the Jonestown Tragedy,"
Baptist Herald
folder 72
Robert Lochhaas, "Guyana Tragedy Reminds Us to Test All Prophets Against Scripture,"
Reporter
folder 73
James L. Merrell, "Jonestown: Some Reflections,"
The Disciple
folder 74
Howard Moody, "Jonestown and Ourselves,"
Christianity and Crisis
folder 75
John V. Moore, "Are There People Free Enough and Strong Enough",
Northern California Ecumenical Council, Church at Work, Special Issue
folder 76
A.F.N., "Risk Factors in Religious Freedom,"
Vital Christianity
folder 77
Opinions, "Hear, Hear,"
Gospel Herald
folder 78
David W. Preus, "Trust Jesus, Not Religious Fads,"
Lutheran Standard
folder 79
Kenneth Reed and James Rhodes, "Kinship with People's Temple,"
Forum
folder 80
John E. Roberts, Editorial, "New Awareness of Evil Cults,"
The Baptist Courier
folder 81
John Somerville, "Jonestown Parallel,"
The Churchman
folder 82
J.S., "Playing God in Guyana,"
The Church Herald
folder 83
P.A.S. (possibly Paul A. Schwartz), "People's Temple and the Cults,"
New Religious Movements Newsletter
folder 84
Kermon Thomasson, "How Many Miles to Jonestown,"
Messenger
folder 85
Paul A. Tidemann, "People's Temple and the Churches in Guyana," journal unknown
folder 86
Edgar R. Trexler, "Getting to the Heart of Christmas,"
The Lutheran
folder 87
Richard D. Tropp, "A Socialist-Christian Society," 6-7/1978,
The Churchman
folder 88
K.H.W., "Jonestown in Retrospect,"
Adventist Review
