Browse Items (19 total)

Decree by the Mexican Government Stipulating the Secularization of the California Missions

This document, which consists of 15 articles, is the plan formulated by the Mexican Congress in 1833 to secularize the California missions. It…

Fr. García Diego's Response to the Governor Regarding Secularization

In this letter to the governor of Alta California, Fr. Francisco García Diego expressed his opinion regarding secularization. The Franciscan from…

Tamien Dwellings Located Near the Mission Community

Photo by painter and photographer Mrs. Alice Iola Hare (1857-1926). According to Father Arthur Spearman this Indian "choza" or hut was part of…

Dominican Friars Baptizing Ohlone Infant

Many of the baptismal manuscripts make a distinction between solemn baptisms and private baptisms. Solemn (now known as public) baptisms were likely…

Mission Indians

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

Mission Santa Clara First Annual Report, 1777

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…

Fifty-Fifty Facial Reconstruction of One of the Skulls found in Excavation Site (CA-SCL-30/H)

During the excavation, almost completely intact skeletons of the Ohlone people were found along with the different items including beads and…

Items Found in the Excavation of an Ohlone Cemetery (CA-SCL-30/H)

During the excavation, almost completely intact skeletons of the Ohlone people were found along with the different items including beads and…

Government's Questionnaire (1812) and Responses by the Fathers Ministers of Mission Santa Clara

In 1812 the Spanish government sent an extensive questionnaire to learn about the local culture and society of its colonies. In 1814 Mission Santa…

San Francisco Bay March Morning

In California’s past thousands of Native People in hundreds of different groups lived here — and their descendants still live here. The landscapes…