Rajneeshpuram (Or.)

Margaret Hill was mayor of Antelope, Oregon until she was voted out of office and the city government was taken over by the Rajneesh sect. She was one of the first to sound the alarm about the undemocratic methods of the cult and generated a nationwide expression of sympathy for the plight of Antelope.

The Rajneesh Artifacts and Ephemera Collection focuses primarily on artifacts and documents from Rajneeshpuram and the City of Rajneesh in the state of Oregon through the 1980s. It secondarily focuses on the Rajneeshees after they left Oregon. These items refer to “Osho,” as his devotees later called Rajneesh.

Collection comprises records created by the Rajneesh Legal Services Corporation, the legal arm of the Rajneeshee collective in the City of Rajneeshpuram in Oregon. Records include correspondence, subject files, case files, legal and financial records, press coverage, audio-visual materials, and miscellany.

Ronald Clarke, Professor of Religion, Oregon State University, made a study of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. The collection is made up of books, newspaper and magazine articles, academic papers, publications of the Rajneesh sect, and correspondence of those involved.

The Bulletin is a newspaper published in Bend, Oregon. The collection (1980s) contains subject files compiled by the newspaper regarding the Rajneeshees in Oregon, and material includes photocopies of articles, research files, legal documents, correspondence, and photographs.

Tim Townsend was a high school geography instructor who taught for the Eugene 4J district for 40 years. He also taught summer session in the University of Oregon geography department during the 1970s-1980s. The collection includes approximately 8,360 2" x 2" color slides of Oregon, the American West, and the Oregon Rajneesh compound.