Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.
Margaret Hill (1921-2016) 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.
Between 1981 and 1985, the followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh built a substantial utopia on Easter Oregon. At its peak it housed between 2,000 and 3,000 residents along with a number of visitors and students. Their efforts to achieve independence by controlling local government units such as the town of Antelope and Wasco County often by undemocratic and illegal methods caused the community to be viewed negatively by Oregon residents. By 1985 legal action by the State, pressure by environmental groups, negative publicity and deportation of the Bhagwan by the U.S. Government brought an end to the experiment.
The collection consists of correspondence with state officials and organizations generating opposition to the Rajneesh, planning and zoning documents of county governments and of Rajneeshpuram, and quantities of correspondence expressing sympathy towards the town of Antelope.