Browse Items (19 total)

This document, which consists of 15 articles, is the plan formulated by the Mexican Congress in 1833 to secularize the California missions. It stipulates, among other things, that the mission churches would become parishes, and that the friars would…

In this letter to the governor of Alta California, Fr. Francisco García Diego expressed his opinion regarding secularization. The Franciscan from Mission Santa Clara believed that there were not enough secular priests to replace the friars. …

Photo by painter and photographer Mrs. Alice Iola Hare (1857-1926). According to Father Arthur Spearman this Indian "choza" or hut was part of Mission Santa Clara's third site (1784-1818). The Indian home was built of "adobe, ladrillo (brick)…

Many of the baptismal manuscripts make a distinction between solemn baptisms and private baptisms. Solemn (now known as public) baptisms were likely regular baptisms where the Thamien individual willingly accepted the rite. Private baptisms were…

Indians, working the Missions of the Spanish settlers of the Americas

Report prepared by missionaries Thomás de la Peña and Joseph Antonio Murguía for Fray Junípero Serra in December of 1777, the year that Mission Santa Clara was founded. The report consists of a detailed description of the first Mission Santa Clara…

During the excavation, almost completely intact skeletons of the Ohlone people were found along with the different items including beads and arrowheads that were often placed inside the cemeteries along with the bodies as these held items of…

During the excavation, almost completely intact skeletons of the Ohlone people were found along with the different items including beads and arrowheads that were often placed inside the cemeteries along with the bodies as these held items of…

In 1812 the Spanish government sent an extensive questionnaire to learn about the local culture and society of its colonies. In 1814 Mission Santa Clara responded to this important document revealing significant information about the beliefs,…

In California’s past thousands of Native People in hundreds of different groups lived here — and their descendants still live here. The landscapes were different. Tule elk and pronghorn antelope, for instance, grazed in huge herds on native…