Most of the photos on this site have been donated by former Peoples Temple members or relatives of members who have granted permission to use them. Many others are in the public domain and were requested, and received, under the Freedom of Information Act. These photographs are free to use. Please credit the photographer, when possible, and the Jonestown Institute.
Example: Photo Courtesy Claire Janaro, through the Jonestown Institute
Example: Photo Courtesy Laura Kohl, through the Jonestown Institute
Example: Photo recovered by the FBI and released under the Freedom of Information Act, through the Jonestown Institute
Some photos belong to California Historical Society, and are generally listed as such. Permission to use these is required by the California Historical Society. For CHS permission, write to Deb Kaufman at the California Historical Society.
The Peoples Temple Collection at San Diego State University Special Collections
These photographs have been donated to Special Collections by individuals. Two collections exist here: the Jones Family Memorabilia Collection and the Peoples Temple Collection. It is easiest to find specific photos by starting at the Digital Collections home page and clicking on the link to “Search By Collection.” Please contact Anna Culbertson, head of Special Collections, with specific photo numbers to obtain permission to use them. He will provide costs and wording for photo credits.
Duplicates of many photos in the SDSU Peoples Temple Collection may be found on the Peoples Temple Flickr Site, and are free to use if drawn from the latter site. But the digital quality of the photos on the SDSU website is usually superior to that on Flickr.
California Historical Society Photos
Permission is always needed to use any photographs from the California Historical Society. For permission, write to Deb Kaufman at the California Historical Society.
Photos Recovered by the FBI
Photos taken by Peoples Temple members and recovered by the FBI were released under the Freedom of Information Act and are free to use. Photos taken by FBI agents in Jonestown, Georgetown, and Port Kaituma were also released under the Freedom of Information Act and are free to use. A few of these photographs appear on the Alternative Considerations website, but many more appear on the Flickr website. Please credit the Jonestown Institute if you use these.
Example: Photo recovered by the FBI and released under the Freedom of Information Act, through the Jonestown Institute
Example: Photo taken by FBI agents and released under the Freedom of Information Act, through the Jonestown Institute
Some of these photos also appear through SDSU Special Collections in better resolution.
To our knowledge, none of the photographs in the Brian Holtz collection are in the public domain. Explicit permission would need to be secured from the photographer or photo source (e.g. Associated Press, other news sources, Getty Images, etc.). A few photographs appear to belong to Temple family members and may appear in the Peoples Temple Flickr Albums.