Name/Title
San Juan Capistrano, California, Eloquent Testimony to Zeal of Early Spanish MissionariesEntry/Object ID
1987.01.3344Description
Black and white stereoview of the Mission at San Juan Capistrano. Caption on verso, 'Here in the Mission patio is a statue of Father Junipero Serra, beloved founder of the Mission. The first white people who ever visited this land were Portuguese and Spanish sailors who came about 1552. That was while Mexico, newly conquered, was governed by a Spanish Viceroy. Two hundred years later, Spanish padres, mindful of travelers’ tales about the Indian people dwelling in this region, came up from Mexico under Serra’s leadership and established a chain of missions along the coast.
'At San Juan Capistrano and in other historic missions of California the faith, wisdom, martyrdom of the Franciscan missionaries established Christianity, civilization, even culture, among savages whom Humboldt classed with the native Tasmanians, whom he considered the lowest of human beings and next to the brute creation. Stupid, lazy, cowardly, treacherous, Humboldt tells us they were. Yet the padres at countless cost won 30,000 of them from their worthless lives and gave them a good start in industry, education, and godliness. Their chief purpose was, of course, the conversion of the Indians to the Catholic faith, but incidentally they taught their converts a great many practical lessons in agriculture, showing them how to raise valuable crops from the wonderfully rich soil.
'From 1769 the work continued until 1835, when there came “a thunderbolt that smote the mission system till it shook and fell a shattered fabric,” namely, the decree of the government of Mexico confiscating the Church property.
'To-day the missions, most of the half ruined, with their weatherbeaten adobe walls crumbling, are the most charming relics of early California.'Photograph Details
Type of Photograph
StereographSubject Place
City
San Juan CapistranoState/Province
CaliforniaCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaCollection
Photograph CollectionMade/Created
Studio
Keystone View CompanyDate made
circa 1940 - circa 1950Time Period
20th CenturyLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Tertiary Object Term
StereoviewNomenclature Secondary Object Term
Print, PhotographicNomenclature Primary Object Term
PhotographNomenclature Sub-Class
Graphic DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsRelationships
Related Entries
Notes
1987.01.1555a, 1987.01.1555