Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts and Archives Department
Collection Information
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Box and Folder Listing
Cataloging Information
Processed by
Charles Latham
7 February 1994
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VOLUME OF COLLECTION: |
2 manuscript boxes and 1 oversize folder |
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COLLECTION DATES: |
1980-1982 |
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PROVENANCE: |
Virginia Heiss, Indianapolis IN, 20 January 1994 |
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RESTRICTIONS: |
None |
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REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: |
Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society |
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ALTERNATE FORMATS: |
None |
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OTHER FINDING AIDS: |
None |
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RELATED HOLDINGS: |
None |
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ACCESSION NUMBER: |
1994.0365 |
Jim Jones (1931-1978), charismatic cult leader, was born in Lynn, Randolph County, Indiana, the son of James T. and Lynetta Putnam Jones. The father was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Jim Jones's youth was episodic: he tried several churches; he dropped out of high school in Lynn to graduate in Richmond in 1949; he dropped out of Indiana University after a few months. He married Marceline Baldwin in 1949, and the next year they moved to Indianapolis, where he took some courses at Butler University.
Jones then began a career as a religious leader, with a tangential relationship to the Church of Christ, which finally ordained him in 1964. Meanwhile in 1956 he started the People's Temple in a former synagogue at 975 North Delaware Street. He studied other religious leaders, and was greatly impressed with Father Divine. After some troubles with the Internal Revenue Service, he moved his temple to California in 1965, setting up in Redwood Valley, 125 miles north of San Francisco. In 1970 he moved to San Francisco. This was the period of his greatest success: his temple claimed 7500 members, and he was involved in politics, including being asked to bring a crowd to swell a meeting addressed by Rosalynn Carter.
In 1973 Jones began to develop a center in Guyana, called Jonestown. By 1977 it was in full operation. In November 1978 the colony disappeared as cyanide-laced Kool-Aid was served to its population.
This collection, filling two manuscript boxes, contains genealogical research on the family of Jim Jones, concentrating on the maternal (Putnam) side. This material was collected just after the Jonestown massacre by Willard Heiss, then head of the Family History section of Indiana Historical Society. Heiss seems to have been interested in testing the truth of Jones's assertion that his mother was a native American, and also in finding whether there were any family traces of mental instability. There is one folder (Box 1 Folder 2) of material about a similar cult in 1908, the "Church of Alpha." The collection retains Heiss's arrangement by family branch, with the branches in alphabetical order. Included are three books about Jones and his cult.
Box 1: Genealogical
Folder Contents
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1 |
Willard Heiss: general correspondence |
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2 |
Nora Davis's "Church of Alpha" 1908 |
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3 |
Cook family |
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4 |
Ferrell family |
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5-6 |
Jones family |
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7-8 |
Parker family |
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9 |
Lewis Parker-- legal papers |
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10-14 |
Putnam family |
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15 |
Correspondence re: Putnam family |
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16 |
Putnam family-- Fayette County |
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17 |
Thelma Putnam Henderson |
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18 |
Shank family |
Box 2: Press and historical coverage
Folder Contents
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1 |
Clippings |
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2 |
(OM 0310) Clippings |
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3 |
Time and Newsweek coverage |
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4 |
Marshall Kilduff and Ron Javers, The Suicide Cult (1978) |
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5 |
Klineman and Butler, The Cult That Died (1980); Jeanne Mills, Six Years With God (1979) |
For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:
END