Interpreters at mission sites today continue to situate colonial California within idyllic depictions consistent with the mission myth. While some contemporary sites attempt to present more balanced ...

This article analyzes the early records of Mission San Gabriel to conclude that the missionaries replaced native identities with new categories of gentile and neophyte, based on religious criteria, ...

Out of 18th century California, the Camino Real runs down the American West Coast, linking 21 Spanish missions between San Diego, near the Mexican border, and Sonoma, north of San Francisco. Let ...

It was one of the first studies of colonial California anchored in Spanish-language sources and the experiences of Indigenous Californians.

A recent California Indian movement to remove church bell symbols in the city of Santa Cruz underscored ongoing tensions between Native communities and public commemorations of the state’s Spanish ...

A critical mission studies grant program funded by the University of California to help researchers rewrite the history of the California colonial mission system is coming to a close.

California should remove the bells marking the path of the El Camino Real and acknowledge the real purpose of the Spanish missions.

Unlike ranches that once served other missions — like the one that became the Alamo — ruins of Mission Espada's Rancho de las Cabras are intact and visible.