Edith Roller Journals
 
 

Edith Roller at Christmas in Redwood Valley circa 1974.

 

When the Jonestown community died on 18 November 1978, one of the silenced voices was that of Edith Roller, a 63-year-old former college professor who had joined Peoples Temple more than three years before. Professor Roller kept an extensive and detailed journal, running several thousand pages in total, during her Temple years. She went to Guyana in January 1978. Her day-to-day notations of life in Jonestown inform or corroborate much of the information located at the Jonestown Research link.

The Roller journals have been found at two locations – in Temple documents collected by the FBI and released to this website through the Freedom of Information Act; and in the Peoples Temple Collection at the California Historical Society – but there are several months that are still missing.

The entries have been divided by month, with active buttons leading to transcribed or typed .pdf file months. Most journals found were in written-note form. Some journals were in a final, typed format; some were partly typed, partly written. Only her typed entries are in her final wording. Poor photo copying to the FOIA discs made some parts unreadable, as indicated by in transcribed text.

  • 1977 and 1978 Journals have been transcribed into online searchable-text.
    Transcribed written notes might be clearer or worded differently had she typed them to final form.
  • 1975 and 1976 Journals are being transcribed to online searchable-text.
    Four months typed-originals are downloadable now in .pdf file format.
  • As missing journals are recovered, they will transcribed and posted.

We thank Don Beck and Michael Bellefountaine for their innumerable hours of work in compiling, transcribing, and analyzing these journals. We welcome feedback, corrections, questions and observations from all visitors. Please write to us at remoore@mail.sdsu.edu with your comments.

1. Roller Journals . (* typed original; ** both typed & written versions; † part-typed, part written)
1975:
Jul75* Aug75* Sep75*      
1976:
Feb76* Mar 76† Apr76† May76† Jun76 Jul76
Aug76 Sep76 Oct76 Nov76 Dec76  
1977:
Jan77 Aug77** Sep77**

Oct77** (Transcribed)

Nov77 Dec77
1978:
Jan78 Feb78 Mar78 Apr78 May78 Jun78
Jul78 Aug78 Sep78 Oct78 Nov78  

1a. Letter from Edith Roller to Jim dated September 10, 1978 regarding missing files/notes from her locker.

2. Roller Journal Abbreviations in handwritten pages

3. From the 1978 Journals:
Organizational Chart
Places, Activities & Structure
Names & Nicknames / Edith’s Residences
Areas of Work and Places

4. Searching the 1978 Journals

5. Jonestown Map

6. Index to the 1975 to 1978 Roller Journals on the FBI CDs

7. Calendars: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978

8. Articles:
"Daily Life of Peoples Temple Revealed in Journal" by Michael Bellefountaine (2004)
"Roller Journals Reveal Detailed, Dispassionate Look at Temple," by Michael Bellefountaine (2005)
"Foreword to Edith Rollers 1978 Journals," by Don Beck (2005)


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