In order for Peoples Temple to establish an agricultural mission and branch church in the Northwest District in Guyana, it had to incorporate itself within the South American country so that it could enter into legal contracts – to open bank accounts, to buy and lease property and equipment, to hire Guyanese workers for some of the initial construction in Jonestown – and give substance to the plans the organization had made with Guyana’s political leaders.
This letter of 4 December 1974 from the Clerk of the Guyana National Assembly to the offices of Clarence Hughes, a Georgetown attorney representing the Temple, includes a late draft of the legislation that incorporated the Temple in Guyana. It is likely not the final language of the bill that passed, since it includes handwritten changes in the list of officers on the Temple’s Board of Directors. Nevertheless, it is the only copy that the FBI recovered in Jonestown following the deaths in November 1978.
A set of Articles of Association adopted in June 1978 appears here.
A Private Bill to Incorporate Peoples Temple (1974), RYMUR 89-4286-A-31-a-17a – A-31-a-17d
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Correspondence Related to Incorporation in Guyana, RYMUR 89-4286-A-31-H-3a – A-31-H-3g, A-31-a-17a
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An Act to Incorporate Peoples Temple (1975), RYMUR 89-4286-A-31-H-3h – A-31-H-3j
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