{"id":18647,"date":"2013-05-21T14:18:13","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T21:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alternativejonestown.com\/?page_id=18647"},"modified":"2026-07-18T18:30:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T01:30:34","slug":"histories-of-peoples-temple-biographies-of-jim-jones","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=18647","title":{"rendered":"Histories, Interviews, and Biographies of Peoples Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"

In addition to arranging for periodic media interviews of Jim Jones, Peoples Temple leaders launched several efforts to gather materials for an extensive official history of the organization and a biography of its founder.<\/p>\n

One of these came in 1973 when Harriet Tropp Randolph solicited stories from \u201call P.C. members\u201d for a feature article that she planned to submit to a magazine like The New Yorker<\/em>. Her notes outline the various periods of Jones\u2019 life \u2013 childhood, adolescence, early years of his ministry both in Indianapolis and Brazil, extending to his \u201ctoday\u201d of 1973 \u2013 and listed a range of interview sources, ranging from Jones\u2019 mother and wife, to Temple members who accompanied Jones from Indianapolis, to close aides who joined in California. Much of the work, including Harriet\u2019s memo, appear in section 117, folder BB-18<\/a> of Temple documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, primarily pages Z-49 through Z-125<\/a>. It is not known whether this project was ever completed.<\/p>\n

A second attempt to assemble a biography of Jim Jones and a history of the Temple movement occurred in 1978 in Jonestown, when Harriet\u2019s brother Richard Tropp started recording tapes and collecting papers. The efforts never came to fruition: he was able to collect only individual fragments, random recollections, unorganized and stream-of-consciousness interviews before the arrival of Leo Ryan in mid-November 1978.<\/p>\n

Finally \u2013 perhaps concurrently \u2013 several Temple leaders began work on what was known as the \u201cConspiracy Book,\u201d which documented a history of perceived attacks against the church. An early draft of that work \u2013 also unfinished \u2013 appears here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These coordinated campaigns were not the only efforts to create a written legacy of what the Temple was about and why people joined the movement. Scattered throughout the history of the Temple \u2013 beginning as early as its days in Indianapolis, and lasting through the final months of Jonestown’s existence \u2013 are tapes and transcripts of interviews of Temple members. Like the biographies of Jim Jones, like the “Conspiracy Book,” these interviews contemplated a larger work by Richard Tropp, and like the other projects, they were never completed.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Lynetta Jones, Jim Jones and Peoples Temple<\/strong>\n
      \n
    1. The Writings of Lynetta Jones <\/a><\/li>\n
    2. The Lynetta Jones Interviews <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    3. The Ukiah Collection<\/strong>\n
        \n
      1. A History by Rheaviana Beam (RYMUR 89-4286-HH-6-A-22)
        \n        PDF<\/a><\/span>
        \n        Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
      2. A History by Maurice Kleineibst (RYMUR 89-4286-HH-6-A-39)
        \n        PDF<\/a><\/span>
        \n        Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
      3. A History by Esther Mueller (RYMUR 89-4286-HH-6-A-38)
        \n        PDF<\/a><\/span>
        \n        Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
      4. Untitled statement by Carol Stahl (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-1-96a \u2013 FF-1-96c)
        \n        PDF<\/a><\/span>
        \n        Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
      5. Rick Cordell Re: JJ<\/a> (RYMUR 89-4286-HH-6-A pp. 2-16)
        \n        PDF<\/a><\/span>
        \n        Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n

        \t<\/a><\/p>\n

      6. The Jonestown Collection<\/strong> \"NEW\"\n
          \n
        1. A Reflection by Christine Renee Lucientes (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-93A \u2013 93C)
          \n           PDF <\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
        2. A Reflection by David Betts “Pop” Jackson (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-94)
          \n           PDF<\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
        3. A Reflection by Shabaka Valgene Baker (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-95A \u2013 95B)
          \n           PDF<\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
        4. A Reflection by Mary Lou Clancey (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-96A \u2013 96D)
          \n           PDF <\/a><\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
        5. A Reflection by Henry Mercer (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-97A \u2013 97C)
          \n          PDF<\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
        6. A Reflection by Annie Moore (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-98A \u2013 98C)
          \n           PDF<\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
        7. A Reflection by Janice Wilsey (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-99A \u2013 99C)
          \n           PDF <\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
        8. A Reflection by Margarita Romano (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-100A \u2013 100D)
          \n           PDF <\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
        9. A Reflection by Tim Carter (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-101A \u2013 101G)
          \n           PDF <\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
        10. A Reflection by Virginia Dean “Mom” Taylor (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-102A \u2013 102B)
          \n           PDF <\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
        11. A Reflection by Cynthia Davis (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-2-103A \u2013 103G)
          \n           PDF <\/a><\/span>
          \n          Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
        12. The Nouvelle Observateur<\/i> Interview with Jim Jones (1977)<\/a> <\/strong><\/li>\n
        13. Marceline Jones, Jim Jones and Peoples Temple<\/strong>\n
            \n
          1. A joint statement with Lynetta Jones, 1975 (RYMUR 89-4286-HH-6-A-17 \u2013 HH-6-A-21)
            \n            PDF<\/a><\/span>
            \n            Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
          2. Undated recollection (RYMUR 89-4286-FF-1-95a \u2013 FF-1-95f)
            \n            PDF<\/a><\/span>
            \n            Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n
          3. Interview with Marceline Jones (RYMUR 89-4286-BB-18-Z-62 \u2013 BB-18-Z-68)
            \n            PDF<\/a><\/span>
            \n            Text<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
          4. Early Draft of Temple History and Conspiracies Against It<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
          5. Jim Jones’ Autobiographical Statements<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            In addition to arranging for periodic media interviews of Jim Jones, Peoples Temple leaders launched several efforts to gather materials for an extensive official history of the organization and a biography of its founder. One of these came in 1973 when Harriet Tropp Randolph solicited stories from \u201call P.C. members\u201d for a feature article that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":13052,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-18647","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18647","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18647"}],"version-history":[{"count":94,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138445,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18647\/revisions\/138445"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}