PUBLIC HISTORY AT MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

Dominic Pizarro

HIST 473: California History

September 22, 2015

1

Beginning with a change in Spain’s government as well as the possibility of other

encroaching European powers, the Spanish government focused their attention on California.

Exploration of this new frontier began with Hernan Cortes and his quest for “Otro Mejico -

another golden kingdom – and perhaps to discover a northwest passage, a sea route around North

America.”1 Cortes’ and other explorers’ expeditions focused solely on colonizing Baja

California, and 200 years passed before the Spanish began focusing colonization efforts on Alta

California.2 The Spanish crown’s financial support for exploration and settlement was motivated

by both political and religious agendas. “The Spanish Catholic church [wanted] to expand their

missionizing endeavors as far north as possible,”3 and from 1769-1821 missionaries were able to

construct 21 missions across the coast of Alta California. Similar to all missions, Mission San

Juan Capistrano experienced multiple changes as control of the mission changed during the

Spanish and Mexican periods respectively. After my visit to Mission San Juan Capistrano, I

compared the Mission’s current presentation of history to the material presented throughout my

class materials. During my comparisons I found that the current operators of the Mission

presented an adequately accurate representation of history, but failed to discuss the atrocities

which befell the Native Americans of the region due to Spanish and Mexican occupation.

Attempting to focus on the positive aspects of Mission life and the works of Father Junipero

Serra, the Mission San Juan Capistrano fails to provide a complete, inclusive presentation of

California history.

1. Robert Cherny, Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo, Richard Griswold, Competing Visions: A

History of California (Boston: Wadsworth, 2014), 36.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid., 37.

2

Founded on All Saints’ Day November 1, 1776, by Father Serra, Mission San Juan

Capistrano is located in modern day San Juan Capistrano, California. The Mission is comprised

of seven major parts: the soldier barracks, South Wing rooms, West Wing rooms, Mission

industrial center, Serra Chapel, cemetery, and Great Stone Church.4 The soldier barracks are

located northwest of the Mission entrance and southwest of the South Wing Rooms and were the

main residences of the Spanish soldier, currently recreated to display how the soldiers lived

during Spanish colonization. The South Wing rooms include the Padres’ bedroom (Dormitorio)

and dining room (Comdeor), where “Franciscan padres would entertain merchants and other

important guests.”5 In modern times, the South Wing rooms are also home to a display of

Rancho history and Mexican occupation of the Mission.

The West Wing rooms currently house exhibits of Acjachemen, the Native Americans of

San Juan Capistrano, or “Juaneno” culture6 and also contain a Spanish wine vat.

7 The Mission

industrial center contains many individual parts including the tallow vats, a hide tanning area,

Catalan furnaces, and the magnificent central courtyard. The central courtyard was the heart of

life at the Mission where women would spin wool and men would work on leather crafts. Within

the entire Mission, the main building is the Serra Chapel, the only building where Father Serra

celebrated mass, according to documentation.8 The Great Stone Church was constructed in 1797,

4. Mission San Juan Capistrano. San Juan Capistrano, CA. 11 September 2015.

5. “Padres Dining Room.” Ibid.

6. “Native American Museum Room.” Ibid.

7. “Spanish Room & Wine Vat.” Ibid.

8. Gerald Miller, “Preserving the past: Orange County’s Oldest Community,”

SanJuanCapistrano.net, accessed September 21, 2015,

http://sanjuancapistrano.net/mission/index.html.

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but sadly collapsed in the great earthquake of 1812;9 the Mission cemetery is the resting place for

those who died in the earthquake along with the Native Americans who died at the Mission.

Most of the Mission’s exhibits were focused on the Spanish era and provided a mostly

accurate representation of California history. Similar to the material presented in class, the

Mission mentioned that the Spanish population at the mission was minimal, with no more than

11 soldiers stationed at the Mission.10

The Mission also spoke about the French pirate, Hippolyte

Bouchard, and how he “sailed down the coast and landed a party at Dana Point to get supplies

from Mission San Juan Capistrano.”11

Inside the Dormitorio, there is a quote from the journal of

Jean Francois de la Perouse stating: “…the missionaries have hitherto been more attentive to

their heavenly than their earthly concerns…They are so austere as to their own comforts that

they have no fireplace in their chambers.”12

Despite these great presentations of history, the

Mission fails to mention the mistreatment of the Native Americans and the true nature of the

Spanish soldiers. The Mission presents the Spanish soldiers as heroes who fought against

attackers such as Bouchard, but in reality these “heroes” were truly convicts whose actions of

raping Native American “women…engendered a smoldering resentment of the Spaniards.”13

The

Mission did mention that many Native Americans buried in the Mission cemetery died due to

9. Ibid.

10. “Soldiers Barracks.” Mission San Juan Capistrano. San Juan Capistrano, CA. 11

September 2015.

11. Robert Cherny, Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo, Richard Griswold, Competing Visions:

A History of California (Boston: Wadsworth, 2014), 59-60.

12. Jean Francois de la Perouse, Life in a California Mission (Berkeley: Heyday, 2007),

87.

13. Robert Cherny, Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo, Richard Griswold, Competing Visions:

A History of California (Boston: Wadsworth, 2014), 46.

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illness. However, the Mission failed to note that the deaths were a “dreadful consequence” of

being “coerced into working and staying against their will, fearing punishment if they ran

away.”14

Understandably, the Mission is attempting to convey a positive image of history, but

the denial of the facts detracts from an accurate portrayal of historical events.

In contrast to the amount of material concerning the Spanish era, the Mission’s

presentation of the Mexican era is limited to the Rancho Period Room, a small section of the

South Wing with exhibits detailing the rise of ranchos and the secularization of the Mission from

1821-1846. Despite the small size of the room, the material presented concerning the Mexican

era is very detailed. The exhibit discusses how “Alta California experienced great turmoil after

Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821,” and how this turmoil lead to “legislation to

secularize the mission over the next ten years.”15

Similarly to the presented class material, the

Mission also discussed Pio Pico, “the last Mexican governor and one of the largest rancho

owners in California.”16

The Mission’s exhibit also focused on the Forster family and how “Pico

sold the available Mission San Juan Capistrano lands, valued at $55,000, in 1846 to his brother –

in-law John Forster, or Don Juan Forster for $710.”17

Overall the Rancho Period Room

successfully portrayed the shift in focus from Christianity to profit during this shift in power and

control of the Mission. The entire presentation of history in this one room was more historically

accurate than the presentation of the events during the Spanish era.

14. Ibid.

15. “Rancho Period Room.” Mission San Juan Capistrano. San Juan Capistrano, CA. 11

September 2015.

16. Robert Cherny, Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo, Richard Griswold, Competing Visions:

A History of California (Boston: Wadsworth, 2014), 81.

17. “Rancho Period Room.” Mission San Juan Capistrano. San Juan Capistrano, CA. 11

September 2015.

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Mission San Juan Capistrano is a beautiful, historical monument which provides a great

opportunity for people to learn more about Californian history. Sadly, the Mission falls short on

its goal of providing an accurate presentation of history by not mentioning the character flaws of

Spanish soldiers and the hardships faced by the Native Americans of the region. It is difficult to

state one method of accurately portraying history without creating a completely negative view of

the Spanish. In my opinion, I believe the current operators of Mission could construct a

monument to the Native Americans who passed away with a plaque that mentions the hardships

faced by Native Americans. This monument would serve as a reconciliation attempt towards the

Native Americans and would show that Mission life was not perfect and had some flaws.

Concerning the “seizing and raping” of women by Spanish soldiers, acts that Father Luis Jayme

responded to by arguing soldiers be “[hung] on account of [these] continuous outrages,”18

I am

not sure how the Mission might be able to address this part of history. I think it might be in the

best interest of the Mission to not construct any signage concerning this aspect of the soldier’s

character, but instead possibly include it in an optional audio guide format. This would allow the

visitors to determine whether or not they wish to know the full historical background and

character of Spanish soldiers. In spite of these historical discrepancies, Mission San Juan

Capistrano is a fantastic historical site and well preserved monument of Spanish and Mexican

influence in California. I believe that along with extra personal research, any visitor of the

Mission will be able to successfully obtain a clear, accurate understanding of both the Spanish

and Mexican eras in California history.

18. Sucheng Chang, Major Problems in California History: Documents and Essays

(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997), 59.