Primary Sources: The 1970s: Jim Jones & People's Temple

"Teri Buford O'Shea fled Jonestown three weeks before all its inhabitants committed suicide. Here, she explains why the tragedy should be a cautionary tale for everyday people."

"...sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. This website is designed to give personal and scholarly perspectives on a major event in the history of religion in America. Its primary purpose is to present information about Peoples Temple as accurately and objectively as possible. In an effort to be impartial, we offer many diverse views and opinions about the Temple and the events in Jonestown."

NPR documentary that "recaptures the final months for the People’s Temple cult."

"The FBI, charged with investigating violence against public officials, opened a probe into the murder of Ryan (hence the case name RYMUR) and provided other support and investigative assistance in relation to the mass casualties. This release consists of material released previously and ranges from 1978 To 1979."

The Jones Family Memorabilia Collection contains nearly 600 photographs, illustrations, documents, and letters. Most of the available items are photographs, taken from the mid-1960s to as recently as 2002, with the bulk of the images depicting life within Peoples Temple during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

There is a large number of photographs showing Jim Jones preaching, as well as several photographs of him with his wife, Marceline Jones, and several of him with his adopted children (mainly his sons). The majority of the photographs were taken in California at any of a number of Peoples Temple locations, including the Redwood Valley Peoples Temple Christian Church and Youth Center, Peoples Temple Los Angeles, and Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in San Francisco, which seated over 1,000 people, and at which the church held services in the early 1970s. Additionally, there are many photographs from Peoples Temple bus trips, including the cross-country "Caravan of Hope" tour in summer 1974. Non-photographic items in the collection include but are not limited to Stephan Jones's childhood drawings, grade school report cards, and elementary school assignments, as well as two letters addressed to Stephan Jones: one from his mother, Marceline Jones, and one from his paternal grandmother, Lynetta Putnam Jones.

The Peoples Temple Collection is mainly comprised of photographs, although there are several audiotape transcripts and summaries as well.

The nearly 1200 photographs available here can be separated into several sub-series, including: Peoples Temple photographs from the early to mid-1970s, which mainly depict daily life within the church; the Federal Bureau of Investigation sub-series, which includes photographs taken during the FBI's investigation into Jonestown following the tragedy of November 18, 1978; photographs taken during Jonestown's heyday from 1976 to 1978, which were later recovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the Moore Family Photographs, which include photographs taken during both John and Barbara Moore's visit to Jonestown in May 1978 and Rebecca Moore and Fielding McGehee III's visit in May 1979.

There are a number of audiotapes, transcripts, and summaries prepared by Fielding M. McGehee, III and the Jonestown Institute.

Digitized photos from the California Historical Society.