{"id":13229,"date":"2013-02-17T21:49:49","date_gmt":"2013-02-17T21:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=13229"},"modified":"2026-02-25T16:43:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T00:43:41","slug":"letterstodad","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=13229","title":{"rendered":"Letters to Dad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the papers that the FBI recovered from Jonestown in 1978 were hundreds of letters and notes that residents wrote to Jim Jones. Some were letters written in response to assignments from the Jonestown leadership: confessions of secret crushes which the writers had on other members (of both sexes) within the community; admissions of sexual fantasies involving Jim Jones; reactions to \u201cDad\u2019s pain\u201d and how it could be alleviated; and descriptions of actions they would take during a White Night.<\/p>\n

Others were seemingly more random and ran the gamut of concerns. Many were letters of appreciation to Jim Jones for getting them out of the fascist, racist United States, the land of concentration camps and Ku Klux Klan rallies. Others offered suggestions for improvements for living conditions in Jonestown or \u2013 more rarely \u2013 complained about food or particular living conditions. Still others reported on the poor behavior of people around them or, just as often, about themselves.<\/p>\n

Beyond the self-criticisms, however, a number of the letters present false confessions to outrageous crimes, offer to demonstrate loyalty to the cause by committing an act of personal peril or self-sacrifice, and confess to failings as a socialist and\/or a productive member of the community.<\/p>\n

These letters appear in numerous sections of documents released under the Freedom of Information Act. Those sections of transcripts and pdfs are listed below. (A full listing of the FBI\u2019s release appears here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
FBI Section Number (2001)<\/b><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
FBI Section Designation (2009)<\/b><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Guyana Index Description<\/b><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
PDF and Transcripts<\/b><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
95<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
N-1<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Letters to Jim Jones<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
126<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
EE-1<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Letters to Dad (A-F)<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
127<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
EE-1<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Letters to Dad (G-J)<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
128<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
EE-1<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Letters to Dad (K-M)<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
\n
129<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
EE-1<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Letters to Dad (N-Z)<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n\n
\n
130<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
EE-2<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Letters to Jim Jones<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
Section Transcripts Complete<\/a><\/b><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Array<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":13225,"menu_order":21,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13229","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13229"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134067,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13229\/revisions\/134067"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}