| How many people belonged to Peoples Temple? |
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It's difficult to get a fix on these numbers, in part because Peoples Temple had such an extended history - from the mid-1950s to November 18, 1978 - and had several locations, beginning in Indianapolis. The first church in Indianapolis was relatively small, and even though no membership records are known to have survived, it’s estimated that it had a membership of about two- to three-hundred at the time that the Temple migrated to California. Fewer than a hundred accompanied Jones to Ukiah north of San Francisco in 1966, but the movement built into the thousands before the exodus for Guyana. There were approximately 1000 members of the Temple in the country on November 18, 1978, and – again, records are incomplete on this – estimates are that upwards of 200 more either visited or lived there for varying lengths of time during Jonestown’s four years of existence. With that said, here are some numbers that researchers have used: The Temple claim that between 16,000 and 20,000 people passed through its doors at one time or another (including those who attended exactly once) is probably close. In his book Gone from the Promised Land, John R. Hall puts the numbers as 86 arriving with Jones in Redwood Valley, 136 members in Redwood Valley two years later, and 7500 in several California locations in 1973. The California Historical Society has membership cards and/or photos for cards for approximately 5000 people who belonged during the mid-1970s. Finally, there were upwards of 2000 passport photos and/or applications to go to Guyana, meaning there were that many who were prepared to make the commitment to live in the agricultural project.
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