Resources: Primary Sources
 
 

The California Historical Society (CHS) is the chief repository for materials related to the Peoples Temple. These materials include organizational and personal papers, legal documents, financial records and photographs. CHS currently holds five individual collections that form the Peoples Temple Collection:

  • Peoples Temple records, 1941-1983, 130 cartons (MS 3800)
  • FBI collection of Peoples Temple papers from Jonestown, Guyana: photocopies, 1972-1978, 15 cartons (MS 3801)
  • Moore family papers, 1968-1988, 28 boxes (MS 3802)
  • John R. Hall research materials on Peoples Temple, 1954-1987, 1 carton (MS 3803)
  • Ross E. Case collection pertaining to Peoples Temple, 1961-1984, 2 boxes (MS 4062)

The California Historical Society http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org is located in downtown San Francisco at 678 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.  The North Baker Research Library is open to the public Wednesday through Friday from 12:00 pm to 4:30 pm. Appointments are not required, but due to the limited amount of seating in the Reading Room, researchers are encouraged to email or call ahead if they would like to discuss their research prior to visiting or to reserve a seat. Contact the Library by email at reference@calhist.org or call 415-357-1848 ext. 220.  

Researchers will find online catalogue records for materials related to Peoples Temple at http://melvyl.cdlib.org, the online catalog of the University of California libraries, the California State Library, and independent California libraries, including the library of the California Historical Society.  Guides or finding aids to larger collections that provide more detailed information than is possible in catalog records may be searched in the Online Archive of California (http://www.oac.cdlib.org).

 




  
10 September 2002.