Hippie Colony 1968-07

Dr. Townsend conducts a general discussion with a group of Hippies on a Colorado mountain who are conducting an experiment in communal living. Many subjects, including purposes of the camp, experiences, music and food, are considered, and biographical information is given. Aaron Mosely, Sharon Leeds, Tom Skinner, Lynn Baker, Jane Ladford, Gregory Press, Will Ross (?) and Nancy Bricky (?) are among the persons interviewed.

General Interview Information

Interviewee Name: Hippie Colony

Additional Parties Recorded:

Date: July 1968

Location: Gunnison County, Colorado

Interviewer: Charles Townsend

Length: 2 hours, 50 minutes

Abstract

Tape 1, Side 1: Reaction to term "Hippie", Nature of group, Purpose of colony, Nature and Thoreau, Value of living on the mountain, Intellectual and spiritual, Religious belief, Role of reason, Aaron Mosely—biographical material, Education, Employment, Invention of plastic fingernails, Value of degree, Sharon Leeds—biographical material, Education, Value of college, Discovering meaning, Refutal of universal life.

Tape 1, Side 2: Tom Skinner—biographical material, Education, Experiment in life, Fast pace of civilization, Destruction of nature and the past, Politics, Location and name of mountain.

Tape 2, Side 1: Hippie label, Journalism trouble making, Haight-Ashbury origins and development, College, Notoriety, Geodesic Dome, Wide application, Symbolism, Lynn Baker, Name of camp, Legal ownership of land, Education, Reason for camp, Age and length of stay, Amount of land, Legal aspects of ownership, Needs of camp, Attitude toward medicine, Plastic fingernails-title, Rituals, Water ritual before the first bloom of summer (1968), New members, Rejection by the mountain, Social vices, Virtues of childhood, Minority group participation.

Tape 2, Side 2: [Note: Tape 2 is blank, apparently having been erased—Rebecca Herring, December 17, 1982].

Tape 3, Side 1: Jane Ladford—biographical material, Education, Reason for being on mountain, City influence, Duties of camp, Escapism, Realities of life, Question of progress, Arts, Urbanization, Materialism and progress, Indian land reform agriculture, Arms race, Use of force, Goodness of life and acceptance, Religion and Utopia, Happiness and good life, Technology of West and spirit of East, Abstract split—spiritualism and materialism, Society.

Tape 3, Side 2: Blank

Tape 4, Side 1: People in Community have meal, Conversation with the cook (no name), Education, Life—spirals, Structure of galaxy solar system—spiral, Man—Creator, Human relationships, Escapism, Reason for man’s birth, History—decay, Man creates his environment and it decays, Life as a whole mingled, Mark Jorganson, Education, Reason for being on mountain, Mothers, Make blood orderly and healthy, Place in history, Turmoil.

Tape 4, Side 2: J. Edgar Hoover—hippies dropouts, Group asks Townsend what life is, Happiness on the mountain, Adequacy (each person), Advertising.

Tape 5, Side 1: Opinions on modern music, Magic of escape, Sentimental escape, Return to reality (expressive), Sensoral music, Clarification of discussion, Types of music, Music of the camp, Instruments used, Items eaten for supper, Importance of food, Value of meat, Influence of meat on U. S., Description of camp, Tent, Grounds, Water supply, Altitude of camp.

Tape 5, Side 2: Blank

Tape 6, Side 1: Arthur L. Pearson, Miners, Gold at Bowerman, Another camp 100 yards away, Ecological community, Gregory Pass—Baltimore, Education, Reason for being at camp, Life away from city, Mission to help society, Troubles with society, Superficial and social trends, Will Ross (?), Education, Reason for being at community, Survival, Finding oneself, Controls of society.

Tape 6, Side 2: Nancy Bricky (?), Education, Reason for coming to community, Available space opportunity, Building home, Slower pace, Absolutes of group, Changes, Children, Bearing, Rearing, Education, Work during their day, Food—meals, Opinion of marriage, Monogamy—good, Luxuries—sky, ground, More freedom there.

Range Dates: 1968

Bulk Dates: 1968

Access Information

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