The negatives series documents the Temple's activities from the sixties through the seventies (with the overwhelming majority covering the years 1976-1977, including Temple bus trips, services, protests, and the early life of Jonestown). This series has several potential applications for the researcher. It documents the Department's extremely prolific photography, as well as what its staff found significant or aesthetically appealing about the Temple -- which was often the personal and intimate side of church life. In these photographs, members relax at bus trip rest stops, Guyanese orchids bloom, cats and dogs relax on the floor, and people smile from portraits. The series also documents the way Temple publicity staff represented Jim Jones: leading services, performing his faith healings, and as a civic leader and quasi-politician.
