This week marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Peoples Temple massacre at Jonestown in Guyana. Special Collections holds a large collection related to Peoples Temple, including audiotape transcripts and summaries, audiotapes, photocopies of original unclassified documents from the federal government, and newspaper and magazine articles related to Peoples Temple. The two largest portions of the collection are the audiotape transcripts and summaries, prepared by SDSU Religious Studies professor Rebecca Moore and Fielding M. McGehee III of the Jonestown Institute, and the unclassified government documents obtained by Moore and McGehee through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).The materials of this collection are extremely powerful primary sources. The transcripts, including those of phone calls and radio broadcasts from Jonestown and Jim Jones, are especially important documents for future scholarship about the massacre, the people of Jonestown, and the study of alternative religious movements.
Image "Jonestown Houses" from The Jonestown Report.
