GUIDE TO CATHOLIC RECORDS ABOUT NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE U.S.
Volume 3: Western United States
California: CA-100
Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Phone: 626-405-2100
Alternate website: Online Archive of California
Hours: See website
Access: Some restrictions apply
Copying facilities: Yes
Holdings of Catholic records about Native Americans:
Inclusive dates: 1625-1989
Volume: Ca. 8 cubic feet
Description: 20 collections include Native Catholic records:
For a listing of Franciscan missions in California with associated Native American tribal affiliations -- see -- the histories within the guide entries under Hermosillo, Mexico, or Puebla, Mexico.
/1 “Papers of George William Beattie and Helen Pruitt Beattie, Mss Beattie Papers”
Inclusive dates: ca. 1853-1944
Volume: Ca. .2 cubic foot
Description: Personal papers of George W. Beattie (1859-1949) and Helen Pruitt Beattie, including materials compiled for their history of San Bernardino County; materials with Native Catholic content include:
A. Correspondence in Spanish
1. Caballeria, Fray Juan, O.F.M. [Franciscans], undated, 50 letters; re: San Bernardino Mission
2. Coue and Mollhausen Correspondence, undated, 16 letters; re: Mohave Indians?
3. Englehardt, Rev. Zephyrin Carlos, O.F.M., undated, 50 letters; re: San Bernardino Mission
B. Diaries in Spanish
1. Garcés, Fray Francisco, O.F.M., 1776, extracts; re: journey from Colorado River to San Gabriel
2. Munoz, Fray Pedro, O.F.M., 1806, 1 item; photocopy
3. Nuez, Fray Joaquin Pasqual, O.F.M., military chaplain, 1819, 4 items; re: Moraga expedition against Mohave Indians; photocopies
4. Sanchez, Fray José, O.F.M., 1821, 10 items; re: journey from San Diego Mission to San Gabriel Mission; translated in part by Rensch
5. Zalvidea, Fray José Maria, O.F.M., 1806, 3 items; re: journey from Santa Barbara Mission to San Gabriel Mission via Cajon Pass; photocopies; translation included
C. Spanish-Mexican land grant deeds, 6 items; re: San Bernardino Valley Mission Ranchos
D. Clipping, undated, 1 item; re: San Bernardino Valley
E. Proceedings of U.S. Land Commission; re: Santa Ysabel Mission; transcript photocopy
F. Sketches of San Bernardino County Communities: San Bernardino Mission and other places, undated, 9 items
G. Missions source material, 68 items H. Mission Fields to Mexican Rancho, 5 items
/2 California File Inclusive Dates: 1625-1964
Volume: Ca. 10% of 1.5 cubic feet Description: Mostly correspondence, re: the exploration, establishment, and management of Native American missions and ranches in California plus a complaint by Andres Suarez on treatment of Indians in New Mexico, 1647; in Spanish.
/3 “California Historical Documents Collection, mss HM 40401-40555”
Inclusive Dates: 1812-1912
Volume: Less than 50% of ca. .15 cubic foot (162 items)
Description: Mostly correspondence on California, including related to mission affairs, particularly Santa Cruz Mission.
/4 “Papers of Henry Dalton, mss DL 1-1196, FAC 682”
Inclusive dates: 1819-1942
Volume: Few items
Description: Includes land records and legal papers of Dalton (1803-1884), re: litigation on Dalton’s Rancho Azusa lands once owned by San Gabriel Mission.
/5 “Papers of José de Galvez, mss GA 1-734”
Inclusive Dates: 1763-1794
Volume: Ca. .5 cubic foot (734 letters)
Description: Mostly correspondence of Galvez, Marques de Sonora re: expeditions sent to San Diego and Monterey to establish Native American missions and occupy California, concerns with indigenous people in Sonora and Sinaloa, and the expulsion of Jesuits from Baja California; notable correspondents include Fray Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa, O.F.M.; Spanish.
/6 “Guerra Family Collection, FAC 667 (1-1194)”
Inclusive dates: 1752-1955
Volume: Ca. 4.2 cubic feet (4,179 items)
Description: Correspondence and land and legal papers (mostly copies) mostly in Spanish from José Antonio de la Guerra y Noriega (1779-1858), treasurer of the California Franciscan missions, Pablo de la Guerra (1819-1875), an American era California politician, and other family members; from the Franciscans Santa Barbara Province Archives, Santa Barbara, California.
/7 “Records of Halleck, Peachy & Billings, mss HM 42940-43013”
Inclusive dates: 1837-1861
Volume: Ca. .1 cubic foot (ca. 40 items)
Description: Materials from the Halleck, Peachy & Billings Law Firm (1849- 1861), including land titles, draft briefs, and opinions from legal cases; re: San Buenaventura, San Diego de Alcalá, San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, and Santa Clara de Asís Missions, California.
/8 “Historical Society of Southern California-Charles C. Puck Collection, photCL400 volume 2” Inclusive dates: 1914-1958
Volume: Ca. 283 prints
Description: Photographs of most California missions and San Xavier del Bac Mission, Tucson, Arizona.
/9 “Papers of Edwin Powell Hubble, mss HUB 1-1098”
Inclusive dates: Undated
Volume: 1 photograph
Description: Prospector and priest outside San Xavier del Bac Mission, Tucson, Arizona.
/10 “B.D. Jackson Papers, phot CL 332”
Inclusive dates: 1900-1925
Volume: 1 folder
Description: Photographs of San Juan Capistrano, San Fernando Rey de España, and San Luis Rey de Francia Missions, California
/11 “Letters of Eusebio Francisco Kino”
Inclusive Dates: 1680-1687
Volume: Ca. .05 cubic foot (33 letters)
Description: Letters and diaries by Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino (1644-1711), S.J. [Jesuits], re: travel and mission development in Baja California and Sonora.
/12 “Papers of Jack London, mss JL 1-25268, etc.”
Inclusive dates: 1905-1906
Volume: Fewer than 69 photographs
Description: San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission, California.
/13 “Los Angeles County Prefecture Records”
Inclusive dates: 1823-1850
Volume: Few entries
Description: Includes several Spanish Franciscan missions in California: San Francisco de Asís [Dolores], La Purísima Concepción de Maria Santisima, San Antonio de Padua, San Buenaventura, San Diego de Alcalá, San Fernando Rey de España, San Gabriel Arcángel, San Juan Capistrano, San Luís Rey de Francia, Santa Bárbara and Santa Inés.
/14 “Collection of Californiana, mss FAC 762 (1-275)”
Inclusive dates: 1773-1861
Volume: Portions of 2 reels of microfilm
Description: Collected by William Frederick McPherson; includes San Gabriel Mission, California, matrimonial investigations, ca. 1789-1853 and correspondence of missionaries; from the Honnold Library, Claremont Colleges, Claremont, California.
/15 “Records of Baptisms and Burials of Mission La Concepcíon Purísima, MSS MFilm 00616” Inclusive dates: 1789-1844
Volume: 1 reel of microfilm Description: Records of La Purísima Concepción de Maria Santisima Mission (Chumash), Lompoc, California; includes baptisms, 1789-1842, and burials, 1890-1844.
/16 “Records of marriages, mss MFilm 00618”
Inclusive dates: 1786-1842
Volume: 1 reel of microfilm
Description: Marriage records of Santa Barbara Mission (Chumash), Santa Barbara, California.
/17 “Records of Santa Inés Mission, mss MFilm 00617”
Inclusive dates: 1805-1917
Volume: 1 reel of microfilm
Description: Records of Santa Inés Mission (Chumash), Solvang, California; includes baptisms, 1805-1866, marriages, 1807-1904, and burials, 1811-1917.
/18 “Solano-Reeve Collection”
Inclusive dates: 1849-ca. 1910
Volume: Nearly 50% within 3,225 items
Description: Mostly oversize survey maps and notes of lands formerly owned by San Fernando and San Gabriel missions, California.
/19 “Collection of Californiana Manuscripts”
Inclusive dates: 1772-1849
Volume: Ca. 2.5 cubic feet (ca. 2,550 letters)
Description: Materials collected by Alexander S. Taylor (1817-1876) and gifted to the San Francisco Archdiocese in 1933; mostly Franciscan correspondence and reports with Spanish and Mexican civil and military officials; re: Spanish Franciscan missions and expeditions in California; notable correspondents include Juan Bautista Alvarado [proclamation, 1828], Fray Narciso Durán, O.F.M. and Fray Vicente Francisco de Sarría, O.F.M.; photocopies; originals at the Archdiocese of San Francisco Archives, Menlo Park, California.
/20 “Early California Population Project”
Inclusive dates: 1769-1850
Volume: Nearly 200,000 entries
Description: The database encompasses all surviving baptismal (101,000 entries), marriage (27,000 entries), and burial (71,000 entries) records from the 21 Franciscan Indian missions in California plus La Placita Church/ Iglesia Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles Mission (1826-1848), Los Angeles, and the Santa Bárbara Presidio (1782-1848), Santa Barbara. See website. The records were derived primarily from microfilm at the Huntington Library, the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library, Santa Barbara, the University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, the Archdiocese of San Francisco Archives, Menlo Park, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Archival Center, Mission Hills. Notable gaps include all sacramental records from San Luis Rey de Francia Mission, but its population data was partially reconstructed with the mission’s padrón (a form of a household census), the burial records for Nuestra Señora de la Soledad Mission, major gaps in baptismal records for San Gabriel Arcángel Mission, and a 16-year gap after 1831 in the burial records for San Diego de Alcalá Mission.
Unless otherwise noted, the repository on this page holds (or held) the records described here and they are not held at the Marquette University Archives.
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