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Archives at Cornell

The Rainbow Family of Living Light & Rainbow Gathering papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 8650

Scope and content

The collection is comprised of more than 100 boxes, containing flyers and handbills, correspondence, publications and newsletters, notebooks and diaries, media, planning and development materials, legal documents, press clippings, and

Dates

  • 1972-.

Creator

Language of Material

In English.

Restrictions on Access

Collection is currently being processed. Material must be requested 48 hours in advance.

Biographical / Historical

The Rainbow Family of Living Light (aka the Rainbow Family) is a counter-culture group established in 1970 by Garrick Beck and Barry "Plunker" Adams. In the decades since, it has grown into a loose collective of affiliated smaller groups and individuals, some nomadic. The Rainbow Family has promoted ideas that have since become commonplace, such as environmental consciousness (including energy conservation through alternative energy, organic farming and eating), alternative medicine, connections between spiritual and physical health, anti-war sentiments, and anti-consumerism. The group is perhaps best known for its yearly, primitive camping events on public lands known as Rainbow Gatherings, which are built around shared values focused on peaceful alternatives to a destructive and consumerist world. The first Rainbow Gathering was held in Strawberry Lake, Colorado in 1972. Beck's vision for the large communal gathering was inspired by the music festivals of the time, such as Woodstock, where temporary communities would operate within a defined space and time. Rainbow Gatherings are organized by consensus, and open to all who would like to attend so long as they share the community's tenants of peace, environmentalism, and non-violence. The gatherings happen annually to this day, with congregants meeting in remote forests around the world for one or more weeks at a time. The Rainbow Gathering is often cited today as an important precursor to modern day festival culture as expressed through events like Burning Man.

Extent

100 cubic feet. (100 cubic feet.)

Separated Materials

Title: Gathering sounds, field recording with the Rainbow Family Author: Hrenak, Tenali Format: Book Language: English Call number: GT4803 .H74 2023 +

Title: Gathering sounds too, field recording with the Rainbow Family Author: Hrenak, Tenali Format: Book Language: English Call number: GT4803 .H746 2023 +

Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Repository

Contact:
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3530
607-255-9524 (Fax)