Testimonial letter from Alexander Turnbull Yarwood

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This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.

This letter is from Alexander Turnbull Yarwood. It is "Exhibit A-369" in the Noles collection.

The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file of the original letter, it has one page.

20th July 1983

To Whom It May Concern

I write as a retired professor of history, formerly of the University of New England, on the subject of Bhagwan. My academic experience and qualifications are as follows: I have an M.A.(First Class Honours in History) and Dip.Ed., University of New South Wales 1957-1968 incl. and went to University of New England as an associate professor of history (1969-1981 incl) retiring at the end of 1981.

My publications include articles in all the Australian and New Zealand historical journals, and the following books:
1) Asian Migration to Australia, Melbourne. University Press. 1964 .
2) Attitudes to non-European Immigration. Cassell, 1968.
3) Samuel Marsden. The Great Survivor. Melbourne. Uni. Press, 1977. This book won the Barbara Ramsden Award for Literature and the Con Weickhardt Award for biography.
4) Racism. The Australian Experience, Methuen, 1982.

I am now engaged in researching and writing history for children, and have a long term commitment as historical consultant for the Australian Broadcasting Commission. On two occasions I have enjoyed lecture tours of the USA, from University of California, Irvine, to Cincinnati Ohio and Yale, New Haven.

The purpose of this letter is to mention my indirect, but highly favourable knowledge of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and to urge in a country so committed to intellectual and religious freddom as the United States, that he and his followers be accorded the facilities that one associates with the land of the free.

As I mention, my knowledge of Bhagwan is indirect, and comes chiefly through a son and daughter who have been drawn to his teaching, to their great benefit. Of course, I am aware too of his reputation as a philosopher and as a guru for men and women from many parts of the world, who seek to understand themselves and their troubled societies.

I have no specific request to make, only that you consider this when reviewing Bhagwan’s application.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
Alexander Turnbull Yarwood


(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)