What’s New?
This page lists articles, tapes, documents and resources which have been added to this website within the past 15 months. Previous pages with substantive revisions are listed in italics. (Note: This does not include entries from the jonestown report, an annual publication featuring articles, remembrances, personal reflections, and artistic interpretations of Peoples Temple.)
The Peoples of Peoples Temple
Patty Cartmell: A Long Overdue Appreciation, by Garry Lambrev (November 2021)
An Interview with Charles Johnson, by Katherine Klapperich (November 2021)
Personal Reflections
Final Witness: The Legacy of Marceline Jones, by Laurie Efrein Kahalas (November 2021)
Jonestown in the Arts
He’s Still Able: Synaesthesia Art Project, by Jolene McDonald (July 2022)
Pictures, a poem by Teri Buford O’Shea, published posthumously (March 2022)
The River, a poem by Laurie Efrein Kahalas, written in 1990/1991, published in May 2022
Jonestown and Other Madness a poem by Pat Parker from a volume of collected works of the same name (1985); her reading of the poem is here. (May 2022)
Striking to the Marrow of Jonestown, a review by Rebecca Moore (February 2022)
Concept Album Considers Jonestown Tragedy through Tape Archive, by Dominique Cyprès (December 2021)
All Things Under Heaven, by Douglas Lucas (March 2022)
Szürke Zóna Podcast (“Grey Area Podcast”) presents “A jonestowni tömeges szektaöngyilkosság” (“The Jonestown mass cult-suicide”) A Hungarian (Magyarországról) Podcast (2022)
Part 1
Part 2
Articles
The Jonestown Project: Contributions Then and Now, by Edward Cromarty (July 2022)
Divine Materiality: Peoples Temple and Messianic Theologies of Incarnation and Reincarnation, by Holly Folk (August 2022)
Secondary Disaster Victims: The Emotional Effects of Recovering and Identifying Human Remains, by Col. David R. Jones, MC, CFS, USAF (1985; republished August 2022)
Jonestown: An International Story of Diplomacy, Détente, and Neglect, 1973–1978, by Alexander Poster (December 2021)
Articles and Podcasts by Shannon Howard (August 2022)
The Infrastructure of Jonestown’s Recording and Speaker Systems: A Photographic Overview, by Joel X. Thomas (January 2022)
Peoples Temple Meetings with the Soviet Embassy in Georgetown, Guyana, 1978 (December 2021)
French and Spanish versions of the map of the 20,000-acre leasehold for Jonestown in the Northwest District of Guyana, prepared by Renato Urbano (January 2022)
Spreadsheet Offers Downloadable Demographic Tool for Researchers, by Rebecca Moore (July 2021)
Peoples Temple Radio, the archive of the website of Josef Dieckman (March 2021)
Transmissions from Jonestown: He’s Able, a podcast by Shannon Howard (March 2021)
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Jim Jones first ask the members of Peoples Temple to call him “Father” or “Dad”? (October 2021)
Did the recording of Temple services or Jonestown meetings affect how people participated in them? (May 2022)
Who was Chris Lewis? (March 2022)
Who is Philip Blakey? Was he a mercenary for the CIA in Angola in 1975? (October 2021)
Primary Sources
Concerned Relatives Petitions (April 2021)
The Defection of Deborah Layton Blakey (April 2021)
The Letters, Reports and Diaries of Paula Adams (March 2022)
Peoples Temple and Joseph Mazor (April 2021)
Richard McCoy Memos to the Files, December 1978 (April 2021)
A Jonestown Inventory (April 2021)
The U.S. Government and Delaware (April 2021)
O’Connor Report to Emergency Relief Committee (April 2021)
The Jailhouse Letters of Chuck Beikman (April 2021)
The Prosecutions of Larry Layton (August 2022)
Histories of Peoples Temple, Biographies of Jim Jones (June 2022)
The Freedom of Information Act and Jonestown
Section 66 • B-4 • Legal (November 2021)
Section 81 • E-2 • Radio Communications (April 2021)
Section 88 • G-1 • Communist Contacts, USSR (December 2021)
Section 88 • G-2 • Communist contacts Korea, Cuba (November 2021)
Section 95 • M-1 • Letters from PT (May 2022)
Section 95 • N-1 • Letters to Jim Jones (March 2022)
Section 97 • Q-1 • Paula Adams (March 2022)
Section 97 • R-1 • Terri Buford (April 2022)
Section 98 • S-1 • Joseph Mazor (April 2021)
Section 99 • T-1 • Mike Prokes (April 2021)
Section 108 • AA-1 • Leo Ryan (December 2021)
Section 109 • BB-1 • Paula Adams (March 2022)
Section 117 • BB-18 – BB-21 • Marceline, Stephan, Suzanne, Tim Tupper Jones (June 2022)
Section 132 • EE-4 – EE-5 • Letters to Jonestown & Censor Examples (June 2022)
Section 139 • GG-1 – GG-3 • Russia, Cuba, Other Countries (December 2021)
Section 143 • HH-6 • History of Jim Jones (December 2021)
Section 143 • HH-9 • Photographs (December 2021)
Section 147 • LL-1–LL-7 • CA State Depts (May 2022)
The State Department Cables 1980-1981 (June 2022)
Tapes
Mystery of Q042 Death Tape Unspooled, by Joel X. Thomas (January 2022)
The Songs on Q042 (January 2022)
“Faith Without Works Is Dead,” an abridged transcript of a Jim Jones sermon delivered in 1956. (December 2021)
The Margaret Singer Tapes, a collection of tapes recorded by the Human Freedom Center and the Concerned Relatives. (October 2021)
The Tapes of Joseph Mazor (April 2021)
The meeting of September 5, 1978 (April 2021)
Transcripts of Jean Brown calls with Daniel Sheehan, Mark Lane (September 1978) (April 2022)
Transcript, notes of Marceline Jones call to daughter Suzanne (September 1978) (June 2022)
Transcriçao Q 042, prepared by Renato Urbano (Traduçaco do Portugês Brasileiro) (January 2022)
Q 164 Jonestown Express plays, short community meeting (October 1978) (January 2022)
Q 185 News and commentary (August 10, 1978) (January 2022)
Q 192 News and commentary (August 1, 1978) (June 2021)
Q 223 News and commentary (July 28, 1978) (January 2022)
Q 321 News and commentary (October 27, 1978) (January 2022)
Q 345 Jonestown Express, community celebration (Sept 10, 78) (January 2022)
Q 351 News and commentary, Jonestown community meeting (7/10/78) (May 2022)
Q 361 News and commentary, early September 1978 (May 2022)
Q 373 Jones reads Guyana history in Jonestown community meeting (May 2022)
Q 438 Jonestown Express performance, 1978 (May 2022)
Q 440 News and commentary (July 18, 1978) (June 2021)
Q 451 Jonestown Express, community celebration (Sept 11, 78) (January 2022)
Q 497 Dedication of LA Temple, September 1972 (May 2022)
Q 580 Jones interview defends Temple against Kinsolving, 9/72 (May 2022)
Q 652 Audio letter to Temple member (May 2022)
Q 780 News and commentary (April 4, 1978) (January 2022)
Q 782 News and commentary (April 1, 1978) (June 2021)
Q 851 Jones receives MLK Humanitarian Award, January 1977 (May 2022)
Q 871 Elderly woman wishes to remain in Jonestown, 7/4/78 (May 2022)
Q 895 Debbie Layton letter home from England, early 70s (January 2022)
Q 903 Laurence Schacht gives lesson on physical exams (January 2022)
Q 937 Jones extols virtues of Jonestown to community, late 1977 (January 2022)
Q 976 Jones reads news, 6/20/78 (May 2022)
Q 982 Jonestown community meeting, winter 1978 (May 2022)
Q 985 Jones presides over community meeting, early Aug 1978 (June 2021)
Q 988 Jonestown Express performs; Jones airs grievances, late winter 1978 (June 2021)
Q 994 Jones berates Jonestown community, late winter 1978 (June 2021)
Q 995 Jones asks JT residents why they wish to return to US (Aug 78) (June 2021)
Q 996 Jones reads news (Apr 78); agriculture meeting (winter 78) (June 2021)
Q 997 News and commentary (May 4 & 5, 1978) (June 2021)
Q 1020 Redwood Valley Sermon (1972); Seattle Sermon (1973) (June 2021)
Q 1029 Two LA sermons, late 1972 (May 2022)