Franciscan Publications

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  1791-1834 - Manuscript Records of La Purisima Concepcion Mission, Biennial Reports (Work Progress Administration Translation)

  Translations of the manuscript records of La Purisima Concepcion Mission covering the period 1791 through 1834 made by students employed through the United States Work Progress Administration, Project No. 465-03-3-631, the reports detailed the activities at and population residing at the mission.

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  1897 - The Franciscans in California, Zephyrin Engelhardt

  Engelhardt noted that much had bee written about those who first introduced Christianity and civilization in California but little was reliable due to ignorance, malice, exaggeration and misstatements. Up to 1785, Engelhardt consulted original Spanish documents and compared those with statements of H. H. Bancroft. According to the author, with regard to the missions from 1831 through 1850, Bancroft was almost the only authority offering any accurate information. He believed as to historic facts, that Bancroft's work was reliable and all the more valuable because it came from a non-Catholic source.

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  1908 - The Missions and Missionaries of California, Vol. I, Lower California, Zephyrin Engelhardt

  Volume I of the Missions and Missionaries in California was compiled from original sources and was intended to serve as an introduction to the history of what was referred to as Upper or Alta California. This volume addresses the origin of the missions in Lower California, it's discovery, efforts to colonize the lower peninsula, the endeavors to establish a government, learn the language, introduction of agriculture, failure of the Spanish government to adequately fund the missions, establishment of various missions, the Jesuits decline, the Franciscan period; efforts to establish missions in Upper California by Fr. Junipero Serra, Fr. Palóu journey to the north, the Dominican Period, neglect of Lower California by the government, and the independence of Mexico.

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  1912 - The Missions and Missionaries of California, Vol. II, Upper California, Part I, General History, Zephyrin Engelhardt

  Volume II was a general accounting of the missions and missionaries in Upper California. Section I addressed the establishment and administration of the missions by Fr. Junípero Serra. Section II covered the administration of Fr. Fermín Francisco de Lasuén and Fr. Estevan Tapis. The author posited that the real object of the conquest and occupation of Alta California was not the establishment of the Catholic faith in California but rather to fund expeditions and secure the land from the Russians and others who were making expeditions in the region. Engelhardt's evidence was the fact that the Spanish government seized and controlled, doling out only a pittance to the missionaries, the Pious Fund (established by donations to be used for purely missionary purposes). This left the missions in Lower California having to contribute to the Upper California missions from their scare supplies. It was anticipated that the northern missions would be agricultural and stock-raising communities. Additionally the Spanish government sought to insure its claim on California by means of white colonies populated by Catalonian volunteers. This volume concludes with the beginning of the Mexican rebellion against Spain.

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  1913 - Life and Apostolic Labors of the Venerable Father Junípero Serra; Francisco Palou, Translation by C. Scott Williams

  Though Palou's "Life and Apostolic Labors of the Venerable Father Fray Junipero Serra" is the first work dealing with the history of Alta California; and though it was originally published in the City of Mexico in 1787, it had never been translated for English readers. A few chapters from the original were translated into English and issued by the Reverend Father Adam, Vicar General of the Diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles, in the year 1890. In 1913, Professor C. Scott Williams under the supervision of George Wharton James translated Paulo’s work with Father Englehardt reviewing the manuscript for accuracy.

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  1913 - The Missions and Missionaries of California, Vol. III, Upper California, Part II, General History, Zephyrin Engelhardt

  Volume III, Section I of Engelhardt's series on California missions covers largely the period of 1812 through 1830 addressing the challenges and difficulties facing the missionaries including the scarcity of resources and labor. He described the invasion of Monterey and other ports in Upper California by Hipólte Bouchard in 1818. Section II covers the period of 1830 through 1836 and the secularization of the missions by the Mexican government during which time the missionaries held their posts until either death or the government relieved them of the responsibility of protecting the neophytes against "white rapacity" and the destruction of the missionary establishments. Engelhardt noted that to secularize an Indian mission, as decreed and practiced under Spanish rule, meant that all the property, save the church building, the priest's habitation, the garden, and the vineyard, should be turned over to the neophytes to be managed in common by officials chosen from among the same neophytes. According to the author, the Californians' greed and disregard for religion were the real motivation behind secularization. Engelhardt discussed in detail Eceandia's Decree of Mission Confiscation issued in 1831, the adverse impact of the Californians on the missions, missionaries and neophytes and efforts to emancipate the Indians. According to Engelhardt, "[t]he mission despoilers and their abettors chose to call it 'secularizaton,' but it was nothing less than brutal confiscation which resulted in the annihilation or dispersion of the Indian converts."

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  1915 - The Missions and Missionaries of California, Vol. IV, Upper California, Part III, General History, Zephyrin Engelhardt

  The fourth and final volume in Engelhardt's series on the general history of the California missions and generally concludes with the narrative in the early 1850s time period. The author noted that, "... a cursory view of the situation revealed such un common struggles in behalf of the Indians against military usurpation and colonist cupidity, accompanied and followed by such extraordinary misrepresentations and calumnies, that only a documentary history would satisfy the critical student and intelligent reader. ... The character of the missionaries, their religious and moral principles, their object, methods, resources, successes and reverses were examined and recorded in these volumes." Sections I and II dealt with the final years of Mexican tenure in Upper California. Section III dealt with the "New Era" when gold was discovered, the United States took possession of Spanish/Mexican territories, the treaty with Mexico in which Mexico recognized Texas as part of the United States and ceded to the U.S. all of its territory embraced in the what would become the States of California, Arizona and New Mexico. The author discusses in detail the mistreatment of the Indians by the new settlers and government agents . The author also described the issues related to the disposition of the missions and the three (out of 813 claims, 513 confirmed) mission land cases before the U.S. Land Commission.

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  1916 - The Missions and Missionaries of California, Index to Volumes II-IV, Zephyrin Engelhardt

  This 1916 publication is an index of Volumes I through IV for Engelhardt's Missions and Missionaries of California.

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  1846 - Chinigchinich – A Historical Account of the Origin, Customs, and Traditions of the Indians at the Missionary Establishment of St. Juan Capistrano, Alta California Called the Acagchemem Nation. Geronimo Boscana

  While at Mission San Juan Capistrano (1812-1826), Friar Boscana wrote a detailed report concerning the Acagchemem (Juaneño), California Indians, in response to an 1812 questionnaire sent by the Spanish government to the missions located in Alta California. Boscan’s work was translated first by Alfred Robinson who published it in 1846 as an appendix to his book "Life in California." Robinson assigned the title "Chinigchinix or Chinigchinich.” Boscana was distinguished for writing one of the most comprehensive ethnographic portrayals of a Native Californian culture during the Mission period. [A portion of the translator's Introduction appears to be missing in this scanned version of the 1846 publication.]

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  1972 - The Old-World Background of the Irrigation System of San Antonio, Texas (Southwestern Studies Series: No 35); Glick, Thomas F.

  An in depth work that compares the Old-World irrigation systems established in the late fifteenth century on the islands off Spain (Canary Islands) and the technology/works applied in "New Spain," most notably, in the San Antonio, Texas, region. The Spaniards brought with them arid-land techniques, including technology and institutional framework for irrigation and distribution of water. Thomas Glick shows how the settlers adapted the Old-World irrigation principles and practices introduced into Spain by the Muslims in the Middle Ages while embracing other irrigation methods in their new environment.

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  1978 – The Economic Aspects of California Missions, Robert Archibald

  While the ordained purpose of the missions was the Christianization and Hispanicization of the native people, the necessity of gathering Indians into communities required a viable economic base for support. Once Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, the missions also took on the support of the military and much of the civilian population. The California missions as frontier institutions are viewed as pastoral, agricultural, mercantile and financial organizations. The book examines the development of these economic functions.