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	John Johnson

by Glenn Farris

This is the first presentation of the newly established Norman Neuerburg Award for outstanding scholarship in the study of California's mission era heritage in honor of the late Dr. Norman Neuerburg, renowned for his extensive study of California mission history and decorative arts.

Dr. John R. Johnson, Curator of Anthropology for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has spent more than two decades studying the rich archive of California mission documents, many of them conveniently found at the Santa Barbara Mission Archive just down the street from his museum. John has focused most heavily on the story of the Indians at the missions. In so doing he has helped many Indian people learn more of their own genealogy and connections not simply to the missions but to their own culture. In recent years he has been involved in major projects for the National Park Service and other federal entities to help recreate a map of Chumash villages extending from Paso Robles to Los Angeles County as it would have been in 1769.

However, the specific accomplishment that stood out in the decision to present this award to John was done outside of Chumash territory. While working on a project associated with the Camp Pendleton Marine Base in San Diego County, John and a colleague painstakingly recreated a version of the missing baptismal record of Mission San Luis Rey. The absence of this crucial record had been a major loss not only for researchers but for the descendents of the mission neophytes of Mission San Luis Rey. Using two of the existing padrones, or censuses, it was possible to re-establish much of the information that would have been in the missing document.

This sort of basic study that so greatly benefits the ability of many others to do research falls right in line with the generous nature of research undertaken by Norm Neuerburg. So many of us