CMSA Newsletter Archive: Writings about California Missions

The above words taken from the first book of the Bible describe what has occured in San Juan Capistrano Mission on January 14, 1984 -- a beginning has been made in what had been suggested by the late Msgr. Culleton of the then Diocese of Monterey-Fresno and also more recently endorsed by the Late Msgr. Abeloe of Mission San Jose -- that an organization of pastors and scholars be formed, so that the "patrimony" of the missions might be better preserved and that a gathering of knowledge and greater awareness of the continuing contribution of the missions to the growth of California might be realized.

As the Bible describes the first day of creation as good -- so I would like to share the good things that occurred on January 14, 1984:

1. Fr. Noel Maholy, Vice-Postulator of the cause of canonization of Fr. Serra, updated us on the progress;
2. The publication of a semi-annual newsletter by the California Mission Studies Association is a positive step toward informing all members of the many good things which are being done in each individual mission;
3. The attendance of Fr. Raymond Polzer, S.J., and Dr. Fontana of the Southwest Mission Research Center, University of Arizona, as well as scholars from both northern and southern California was truly a good beginning for the exchange of ideas and hopes for CMSA;
4. The selection of a name for the group and selection of an executive board were accomplishments of the initial meeting;
5. Mission San Jose offered to host the 1985 meeting and Mission Buenaventura the 1986 meeting. This ensures a continuance of hospitality and growth of ideas for the future.

We look forward to making a contribution to the education of our children in their California heritage in the future.
Between August 28, 1984, and August 28, 1985, we celebrate the bicentennial of Fr. Serra's death. May his spirit of ìalways going forwardî give impetus to our work, which we hope will be truly good for all who love the missions.

Four years ago, when a number of historical activists in the Santa Cruz area, including historians, archaeologists, city planners, preservationists, and Native Americans, came together to achieve restoration of what remains of Mission Santa Cruz, it was immediately evident that the single most important tool necessary to accomplish that end was historical information. Fresh historical data and incisive interpretation can be powerful incentives for the public, parish, diocese, whatever, to rally behind an expensive restoration/reconstruction project, be it a mission, presidio, pueblo, or rancho building.

Many people, including a number of eminent historians, believe that the Spanish Colonial Era in California, with its missions, presidios, and ranchos, is passé, that everything worth knowing already is known, and nothing of value remains to be learned about early California.

Many mission communities accepted Englehardt or Weber as the last word years ago and have ceased active inquiry into the specifics of their mission's history. In Santa Cruz, for example, after Torchiana published his HISTORY OF SANTA CRUZ in the thirties and Leon Rowland a pamphlet of the same name in the forties, the subject was considered closed for decades. Since 1980, however, Santa Cruz has learned that there is a wealth of information yet to be explored, not only about our county in the Hispanic Era, but relative to neighboring Monterey County as well. Talk about a subject considered old hat in some circles.... Anyway, by extension, it would appear that this situation exists elsewhere; there appears to be a direct connection between moldering adobe mission buildings and unenthused historians and archaeologists.

The California Mission Studies Association has enormous potential to stimulate research by providing a vehicle to aid in the exchange of information between persons working in the various disciplines. Up until the 3-Dimensional Culture Conference of 1976 in Santa Barbara, it appears there was very little other than Gran Quivera to stimulate communications among people who shared interests in the same period but were separated by discipline. Since then, very little has changed ... until now.

With the inception of a California Mission Studies Association, a newsletter modeled after the Southwest Mission Research Center publication, and an annual conference for personal contact, a need will be filled which has been recognized by many over the past years. It is very important that, at the outset, the widest possible circle be drawn to be certain of including everyone with an active interest in the given period. Every aspect should be encompassed, including music, dance, arts, crafts, etc., as well as the obvious in an effort to make mission studies as comprehensive a subject as possible. Continuing in this vein, because of the direct relationship between all aspects of research in the mission period, it seems imperative that studies relating to presidios, ranchos, villas, pueblos, etc., be considered in the newsletter and conferences along with strictly mission oriented investigations.

My bias shows clearly in the above remarks. I come to the subject with a strong background in art history, historic preservation, and historical research of this period. I have been several times president of the historical society in my community and am now in my second year as Chair of the City of Santa Cruz Historic Preservation Commission and my fourth as Chair of the Adobe Coalition. I am intermittantly employed as a historical and architectural consultant by historical archaeologists. While I was born and mostly raised in Monterey, I've lived in San Juan Bautista, Santa Barbara, and now Santa Cruz: mission communities all. Thus I bring to this group a strong emotional commitment to the furtherance of mission studies as well as an intellectual one.

THE PAST IN CALIFORNIA'S LANDSCAPE
by David Hornbeck
California State University, Northridge

During a recent visit to Mission San Juan Bautista, I stood looking at a display of mission artifacts when a man next to me leaned over and asked, "Were the Spanish as important as all this indicates?" I assured him that the Spanish had a far greater impact on California than most people realized. In our subsequent conversation, I was astonished to learn just how little he knew about California's past, particularly before the Gold Rush. To him, Spanish settlement of California was like reading a romantic novel, interesting but a little unbelievable.

Thinking back to that conversation now, I wondered how many others are unaware of California's unique past. Most people know that the Spanish were the initial European settlers in California, but few have any specific knowledge about Spanish exploration and settlement or their contributions to the present-day cultural landscape. Spanish names are seldom out of sight in California, yet their historical validity has become lost, distorted, or confused in the multitude of Taco Bells, red-tiled roofs, and sprawling housing tracts replete with Spanish motif. The past seems to be held in abeyance, used only as an ornament to decorate the present-day landscape.

Californians have little awareness of their very special history. The continuity of time is not reflected in their present cultural landscape. For many, California's past began with a cavalcade of argonauts in search of the illusive golden fleece. The factual history, for some reason, is usually associated with the East and somehow was implanted in California with the appearance of Anglo miners, merchants, and farmers. The backward glances seldom extend to the time before Anglo settlement. An initial chauvinism on the part of early Anglo settlers may account for this tendency; more likely, however, the rapid, almost perpetual change of the present blurs any sort of historical reality.

Without this sense of the past, Californians hasten to fabricate one, one that can be experienced daily. In lieu of an accurate history, the Californian surrounds himself with manufactured legends and made-up traditions, assisted by an ever growing number of literary romanticists who seldom distinguish between fact and fable. If one looks away from the twentieth century, beyond the artificial past that pervades the present, he will find that California is alive with an authentic and unique heritage -- a heritage that is part of the contemporary landscape, a heritage that began before Plymouth Rock.

Long before settlement of Jamestown in 1607, Spanish explorers had sailed the California coast and recorded its grace and elegance. Francisco Ulloa charted the Gulf of California in 1539. He was quickly followed by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who, in 1542, discovered San Diego Bay and sailed on to explore California's north coast. In 1595, Sebastian Cermenho, Captain of the Manila Galleon, sailed along the California coast, adding to Cabrillo's lucid account. Juan Vizcaino also charted the California coast in 1602, giving Spanish names to prominent features and was the first to describe the beauty of Monterey Bay.

The tempo of Spanish exploration of California intensified after settlement of San Diego in 1769. In the same year, Gaspar Portola and his small party stumbled across California's rough coastal mountains in search of Monterey Bay, guided only by Vizcaino's elegant, but 167 year old description. Shortly afterwards, Pedro Fages struggled through and described parts of the Lower San Joaquin Valley. Both the Potola and Fages expeditions took place before the Boston Tea Party of 1773. Juan Bautista de Anza established an overland route to California, beginning at Tubac, Sonora, and ending at Mission San Gabriel in 1775, a distance of some 1000 miles, through some of the most hostile and desolate country in North America. In 138 days, de Anza guided 240 colonists and 1000 head of livestock to California. Daniel Boone, in the same year, established the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap, a distance of 200 miles, taking only 23 days. Before the Declaration of Independence was written, Manuel de Ayala charted San Francisco Bay and measured its depth; and Father Garces, in hopes of converting the heathen Indian, searched through parts of the Central Valley describing its barren flatness. Further north, Gabriel Moraga explored the Sacramento Valley while Lewis and Clark trudged across the Great Plains.

The efforts of Spanish explorations were quickly inscribed on the California landscape. Settlements at San Diego, San Francisco, and Monterey were integral parts of the cultural landscape before Washington encamped at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778. In all, nineteen missions, four presidios, and three pueblos embellished the California landscape before the purchase of the Louisiana Territory.

Beginning in 1786, the first of over 500 ranchos were issued to private owners. Tightly controlled under Spanish rule, the number of ranchos increased under Mexican rule, beginning in 1821, and became Mexicoís contribution to the California landscape. So important was the rancho that, by the time Commodore Sloat raised the American flag over Monterey Bay in 1846, the amount of land contained in these baronial estates was greater than the area of Massachusetts, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined. Before the first Americans reached pastoral California by land in 1827, the ranchos with their vast herds of cattle were supplying hides to Boston shoe manufacturers in exchange for manufactured goods. Boston, however, was not the only link between California and the United States. As early as 1832, Los Angeles was in regular, if tenuous, contact with St. Louis through the Spanish and Santa Fe trails.

The Spanish and Mexican influence on the California landscape was not eradicated upon arrival of the Anglo settler; the slate was not wiped clean; and the Anglo did not encounter a pristine environment. The newcomer had to accommodate within his frontier settlement scheme an already established landscape. The legacy of the early Spanish settlers is still with us in so much of today's landscape. Most obvious are the myriad of Spanish place names that are inscribed on the face of California and the Spanish-style architecture used to romanticize and ornament the landscape. Many cities established by Spanish-Mexican pioneers have continued into the twentieth century as prominent centers in California's urban network.

In addition to these very visible features, the California landscape abounds with less visible vestiges of Hispanic occupance. Within most urban areas, there are usually a number of restored adobes, presidios, missions, and plazas, most often renovated for nothing more than commercial proselytizing. These attempt to infect tourists thoroughly with the charm and legends of the halcyon days of California and to perpetuate a mythical past. Unnoticed in the rural areas, however, the crumbling, weed-covered irrigation canals that preceded the vast water network of today. Moldering remnants of rancho adobes, once the focus of enormous cattle empires, lie within a short distance from where most Californians live. Narrow, circuitous roads leading to small coves along the coast are still in use, but unknown to most who travel over them is the fact that these roads were once the lifeline of the rancho, used to transport large quantities of hides and tallow to Boston ships waiting offshore.

Many subtle elements of Hispanic heritage go unnoticed by most Californians in their scamper to overtake the California dream. Food habits, building technology, Mediterranean agriculture, irrigation practices, water laws, color and decoration of homes -- these are only a few of the Hispanic attributes that permeate the present-day landscape. Individually, some may seem unimportant, even trite in twentieth century California, but together they form an integral part of the landscape, a part that imbues a richness that belongs only to California.

DAMAGE TO OUR SPANISH PERIOD RESOURCES
Nicholas M. Magalousis and Harry Francisco Archaeological Research Project
Mission San Juan Capistrano and Chapman College

The preservation of California's Spanish period resources is one of the most important activities now in progress at many Alta California missions and other Spanish period establishments. A great deal of time and money has been spent and will continue to be spent on measures designed to protect structures made of adobe, rock, and tile from enemies: the forces of nature -- flora, water, wind, sun, and at times rodents. In addition to natural forces, there are human-introduced problems, such as vandalism, incorrect preservation methods (incompatible materials), ill-trained gardeners, and the lack of long-range plans for maintenance of preservation systems. Workers on historic sites could be educated, organized, and supervised on a specific plan basis.

The following list reflects only a few of the major destructive activities occurring in and around Spanish period structural environments:

First, agriculture has always been a major factor in the destruction of historic and prehistoric sites. Mission Soledad has experienced a great deal of agricultural damage from disking and plowing, as have other sites. When soil heals are removed from the base of structures, the structures become destabilized. Walls are in addition damaged by water, as water permeates adobe and mortar. This can supersaturate the area and again result in destabilization. The planting of flora near walls and wall foundations can have similar effects. If archaeological excavations are placed near critical foundation regions, they may also contribute to the destabilization factor. Archaeologists must be aware that their excavations can be destructive in nature. One major destructive feature of archaeology is the exposure of structural remains without making a linkage of responsibility to the preservation of the newly found resources. Ramadas or enclosures can at times protect excavated resources. Paradigms have been established for this type of preservation at Thera, Casa Grande, Mission San Juan Capistrano, and of course other sites. PHOTOGRAPH #1: Shows damage of wall foundations by flora.

Second, development has long been a considerable source of loss to Spanish period establishments. Modern buildings located on known sites prevent archaeologists from excavating, and Spanish resources have been graded away and lost during construction of modern structures in some cases. It is time to minimize this form of destruction by conducting complete research of the proposed development area prior to construction. This should be accomplished in a highly organized fashion, utilizing an interdisciplinary approach and taking all parties concerned into consideration.

Third, sites are sometimes damaged by well-meaning individuals. Nails are put in adobe and rock walls to hang posters, speakers, and plants. This can damage adobe brick, plaster, and mortar. Plantings of flora and the watering of flora around structures has done and is doing a great deal of damage. Ivy, for example, is damaging to walls. In one instance, when ivy was removed at a site, it was replaced by bougainvillea, --no less destructive. When the bougainvillea was planted, it was supported by trellises nailed into walls. The roots of some plants do extreme damage to the upper portions of walls and to building foundations. Watering of plants which are located close to structures creates problems of stabilization if done by untrained personnel or with improper sprinkler systems that spray walls and plants with equal abandon.

Fourth, there are many problems in the preservation of documents, photographs, maps, and artifacts. Sites statewide vary in the quality of the preservation of these materials, and the quality ranges from excellent to very poor. A complete statewide project is needed to determine standards for the preservation of significant historic objects and for an agency to provide professional assistance on a no-strings basis. In addition, it is advisable to researchers to keep abreast of new methods and techniques in their fields as well as in other disciplines. Some researchers in California are utilizing classical methods and techniques which do more harm than good. New concepts for preservation and analysis, such as atomic absorption, are reported in Archaeological Chemistry II and related publications. PHOTOGRAPH #2: Shows a preservation measure that has altered a destabilized feature into a stabilized historic element with educational value to thousands of visitors to Mission San Juan Capistrano.

It is important to make a linkage between preservation and education by explaining (1) how the preservation was conducted, (2) why the preservation was needed, and (3) why the historic feature was important to the builders, also why it is historically important to present day populations.

It is our opinion that, if resources are important enough to preserve, they are also important enough to be utilized as a vehicle for education. Resources should be accurately signed with educational logos indicating the resource's past function and importance, why and how it was preserved, and what the importance of the object is to present and future populations of students, scholars, and the general public. This conceptual linkage between preservation and education can be implemented in most cases on a low cost basis, utilizing the resources within the California Mission Studies Association.

REFERENCES
Carter, Giles (ed.), Archaeological.Chemistry II, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1978.
Francisco, Harry, and Magalousis, Nicholas, "Archaeologists as Interpreters: Altering a Historical Site into an Organized Learning Experience," The Interpreter, Sacramento, California, Winter, 1984.
Magalousis, Nicholas, and Martin, Paul, Kalendarium: Special Archaeological Edition, Kalendarium Press, Mission San Juan Capistrano, 1981.
Magalousis, Nicholas, and Martin, Paul, "Mission San Juan Capistrano: Preservation and Excavation of a Spanish Colonial Landmark," Archaeology Magazine, New York, May/June, 1981.

A PRICELESS HISTORICAL RESOURCE:
THE PRESERVATION & USE OF MISSION SACRAMENTAL REGISTERS
by Robert H. Jackson

A number of church and public archives hold a priceless set of mission period documents: registers of baptisms, burials, marriages, and confirmations, and books of patentes and padrones . The preservation and use of these documents is a matter of interest to the archives that own the registers, and scholars and nonacademic researchers. Scholars have organized to share data abstracted from registers, such as the "Mission Register Studies," organized by Ms. Jeanne Munoz in recent years and loosely affiliated with the Southwestern Anthropological Association, or Henry Dobyn's "Historical Epidemiology" group that has members who employ mission registers. The newly organized California Mission Studies Association, however, has the potential of beginning a dialogue between scholars, archivists, genealogists, and other interested nonprofessionals.

On the one hand, the newsletter produced by the new Association can become a forum for exchanging ideas and information between scholars and non-scholars who use mission registers. Those with experience in the use of registers can help others with the special vocabulary and paleography in the registers. What, for example, was a parvulo/parvula, coyote, or lobo, or to what particular ethno-linguistic group did a mission Indian belong? In many cases, scholars who generally have a stronger command of the language and experience in the use of eighteenth and nineteenth century documents can assist genealogists or other non-specialists with problems arising from the use of registers.

The newsletter can also be a convenient place for the archivists to discuss problems related to the preservation of mission registers and related documents, and ways to protect the registers while making them available to researchers. I can think of a number of "horror stories" related to the preservation of mission registers. Unknown persons, perhaps misguided genealogists, carefully removed selected entries from the San Jose mission baptismal register with razor blades. At least one other archive is in a position of having to let researchers use original registers. I have been given several original baptismal and burial record books, plus libros de patente and libros de padrones at the Monterey Diocese Pastoral Office. The California Mission Studies Association could sponsor a program of making copies of registers available to archives, or Association members might be able to suggest sources of funding for understaffed offices to make copies for everyday use. We must be concerned with preserving irreplaceable mission records, but at the same time researchers need to have access to the resources of archives and libraries, and the nature of the geographical distribution of documents and the policies of different institutions pose problems.

I am excited about the potential usefulness of the California Mission Studies Association and the newsletter. It is important for archivists and researchers, scholars and non-scholars to discuss problems of research and preservation. Specialty groups, such as anthropologists, historians, and genealogists, have journals and newsletters, but there is no such group dedicated to the California missions that transcends specialty groups. The future success of the California Mission Studies Association depends on the co-operation of individuals interested in the missions.

MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO DOCENT PROGRAM
by Frank D. Ducey, President
Mission San Juan Capistrano Docent Program, 1984-1985

The Docent Program at Mission San Juan Capistrano was organized in April, 1981, by Father Paul M. Martin, Mission Pastor and Museum Curator, and Professor Nicholas M. Magalousis, Professor of Archaeology, Anthropology, and History at Chapman College and Museum Director at the Mission. During the first four years, sixty dedicated docent volunteers have been trained to pass on historical, legendary, and scientific information about the California mission system in general and Mission San Juan Capistrano in particular, to over 50,000 visitors, including 10,000 school children.

A typical docent-led tour would present information about the Native Americans who lived on the mission site in the pre-Hispanic period; the mission system founder's objectives; the siting expedition of 1769-1770; the flourishing mission period; Mexican Independence and secularization; settlement of California as a republic and state of the Union; restoration of mission properties to the Church by President Abraham Lincoln; the mission system impact on development of the California infrastructure (i.e., pueblos ñcommunities; El Camino Real -- transportation corridor; ranchosóagriculture, trading and education); and the preservation/research activities implemented by Father St. John O'Sullivan in the first quarter of this century and continuing today under the direction of Father Martin and Professor Magalousis.

The docent organization officers include a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, newsletter editor, and historian. The Mission and Curator's Office conducts five training sessions for each new docent student group, consisting of three intensive training classes, one tour for the students led by certified docent members, and one tour led by the students with certified docents as the ìvisitors.î The students finish the course and become certified docents when they complete a written examination following fulfillment of the five training sessions. All docents are encouraged to give tours as often as possible, to continue reading books and articles concerning the mission system, and to participate in subsequent docent training classes.

In addition to giving tours, docents also become involved in special projects at the mission, such as setting up arts and crafts displays, cultivation of a Native American garden, development of a bird sanctuary, giving presentations on the newly constructed "Great Stone Church" which is similar to the one destroyed by the 1812 earthquake, participating in Saturday youth education programs, and also conducting "off site" activities, such as lecturing to local schools and community interest groups.

Social and educational activities include bus trips to other missions, historical sites and pageants, and inviting special guest speakers for each monthly general meeting of docents at the mission. Future plans include establishment of a docent office, waiting room, and library within the mission grounds, where docents could continue their studies and also gather together while waiting for scheduled tours.

Mission tour groups are booked through the mission visitor's center in San Juan Capistrano, which also assists in planning and development of the docent training program.

MISSION STUDIES AT SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA

by Kenneth Pauley
For the past three years, the International Education Program of the Los Angeles Community Colleges has offered at spring break a unique living experience at Mission San Antonio de Padua, near Jolon, California. Each year, the program consists of spending five days and nights in the mission quadrangle. Three meals a day are magnificently prepared and graciously served by Brother Joachim. Students (limited to 25), both young and old, are asked merely to render minor services, and may engage, if they so choose, in other routine chores supervised by the current mission padre, Father Joseph E. LaRue, successor to the first Franciscans who came to this Valle de los Robles in 1769. Last year, we chopped wood, cleaned out the aqueduct system, and a few, more ambitiously inclined, removed tree stumps and cleaned adobe structures. This year, under beautiful skies and fluffy clouds, many worked at history projects, hoed flower gardens, and raked lawns. The only compulsory activity is attending classes -- about two hours a day -- where, under the able tutelage of Dr. R. David Weber (pictured in the second row, center), the story of the California missions unfolds, from Spain's entry into the Americas through Mexico's secularization decree. Spain on the North American Continent, the Founding of the Missions, Life at the Missions, Secularization and Decline are examples of a typical day's lecture. The class carries one unit of college credit from Los Angeles City College and operates in a communal manner, which is analogous in lifestyle to that of the neophytes in the early days of the mission (girls, however, are neither locked in their rooms after dinner, nor do the padres track wandering students after dark). There is guitar playing, singing, and socials in the evenings, slide shows of old and new mission pictures, and all these activities add up to a glorious work-study vacation. As the city life drains from our bodies and we approach Easter, we are hard pressed to leave this oasis and return to ìcivilization.î Interested next year? For appointments, contact Dr. R. David Weber, Los Angeles Harbor College,1111 Figueroa Place, Wilmington, California 90744. The price next year will be $100.

THE TRANSLATOR'S NOTEBOOK:
THE MISSION CHURCH AND ITS FURNISHINGS
by Norman Neuerburg

We also can learn from the example of other institutions. The recent Olympic Games were successful in dealing with vast numbers of people, because of considerable long-range planning. By contrast, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art had crowds of people jammed into subway-like conditions vainly attempting to view the French Impressionist Paintings. The difference in success seems to lie in the thoughtful exploration of all facets of the problem and then putting the plans into operation well before the institution is overwhelmed by throngs of people. With this objective in mind, a number of recommendations will be offered for consideration. While some of the suggestions are directed more towards the tours by school children, much of the information should have wider application.

1) A determination must be made as to the number of tours and persons that the mission's finite resources can realistically accommodate on an organized basis. Currently, Mission San Juan Capistrano has 300,000 visitors a year. It is likely that a point of saturation will be reached in the near future. School tours are scheduled in advance, which offers some means of control.

2) There must be a classification system set up for the types of educational tours. California's Social Sciences Curriculum Framework for Schools assigns the study of California Missions to the fourth grade. The nine year old child is still developing a sense of time and cannot yet appreciate the rich heritage of the missions as an adult visitor would. Richard Landy has observed that the highlight of the mission tour for many children is feeding the pigeons in the patio area. Therefore, a complete, or high level, tour would represent a misuse of the mission's resources and an obvious waste of the docent's time. As with Hearst's Castle at San Simeon, tours must be classified as to range and scope. Professor Magalousis has a number of archaeological digs taking place. Viewing certain of these sites would help children gain some understanding of how the past is investigated. A tour of all of the sites, however, would be more appropriate for a college-level class.

3) Each mission's staff should prepare orientation materials to be used by those schools and other institutions wishing to visit the mission in their locale. School districts whose teachers do regularly schedule field excursions should be encouraged to acquire sets of mission materials. These instructional media kits could be housed in the district's media center and would be available to check out by teachers prior to making the class tour. The media kits could include the following items:

a) A videotape cassette covering pre-visit orientation for the tour. The historic significance of the mission and the educational purposes of the tour could be summarized. Standards of conduct and guidelines on appropriate behavior for tour participants can be included on the videotape.

b) A brief guidebook for the teacher should accompany the tape and emphasize key elements of the program, as well as explaining the logistical guidelines required by the mission. For example, the ratio of adults to accompany children must be clearly spelled out. Parent volunteers and teacher aides from the school should assist in monitoring the children. The docent should not be expected to deal with class management problems.

MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO: The project to build a new parish church based on the design of the Old Stone Church resulted in a closer examination and study of the ruined building. A need to refurbish the gift shop led to the restoration of the sala and refectory of the mission and the discovery and replication of original wall decoration and built-in features. Further discoveries of wall decoration, including some that might best be described as Indian pictographs, were made on exterior walls. A number of details pointing to changes in the design of the mission buildings have been uncovered as well. (Norman Neuerburg)

[MORE ON MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO:] In 1979, an interdisciplinary Archaeological Research Project was established at Mission San Juan Capistrano. The project this summer enters its sixth year of research, preservation studies, development of the new museum, educational projects, a document organization, computerization of all segments of the museum and archaeological studies, and assisting the mission in Archive development and funding support for preservation, stabilization, and museum development. The project this year (1984) will concentrate its efforts in the completion of the West Wing Museum as an educational element of the mission for all to learn from and enjoy. Saturday lectures, tours, and films are being organized by professional educators for young people of all levels of education. The work at Mission San Juan Capistrano was a co-operative effort between Father Paul Martin, Pastor of Mission San Juan Capistrano, and the Archaeological Research Project, which has been sponsored by Chapman College, Santa Ana College, and the University of California, Irvine. (Nicholas M. Magalousis)

MISSION SAN FERNANDO REY DE ESPANA: The most important recent work here has been the building of a structure for the Archives of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. It contains important mission documents and a photographic collection. Also, a small chapel for daily Mass has recently been decorated with designs taken from the Convento designs destroyed or covered up as a result of the 1971 earthquake. (Norman Neuerburg)

COMMUNICATION AND CO-OPERATION: These are the by-words of our new organization. I think most of those who came to the first meeting felt that there was indeed a real need for this among those interested in or involved with the California missions. We work in our own little worlds often oblivious to others who may be working in the same or related fields. We often lack others with whom we can share our joys in discovery or with whom we can discuss our questions or problems. We are still few enough that we don't have to worry very much about others stealing our ideas to publish as their own. There is so much work to do and so few to do it. Often when we are doing our research we find information of no immediate use to us but perhaps very pertinent to others working on another topic. With this newsletter, such information can be passed on so all are encouraged to send in queries. Such an exchange can only be of mutual benefit. May the new California Mission Studies Association flourish and its benefits be manifold! (Norman Neuerburg)

THE COMMITTEE TO RESTORE AND CONSERVE THE BAJA [CALIFORNIA] MISSIONS will sponsor, with the San Juan Capistrano Mission Museum, an International display concerning Baja [California] ecology and photographs of the first site Father Serra established -- Mission San Fernando Velicat·. In conjunction with this display, paintings on silk will depict Native American mythology.

The Committee to Restore and Conserve the Baja California Missions has met several times with Nick Magalousis on both sides of the border. One positive result is the committee's participation in the C.M.S.A. meeting in San Jose, January, 1985.

The Baja California committee also has plans to develop a new cultural center and museum in Ensenada, with the assistance of the Archaeological Research Project based at Chapman College.

Newsletter November 1984

(The inaugural issue)