Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph of the exterior view of Mission Santa Clara de Asis, 1861. The mission is about three-stories tall and in dilapidated condition. Stucco from the church is pealing off. The tower, located to the left of the church, is approximately a story taller and in the same condition as the church. A fence separates the mission's courtyard from the street. A nearby building is visible in the background. Picture file card reads: "Reproduced from Daguerreotype by Grant Jackson. This photograph should be dated as 1861, as in that year the Italian façade seen in photo CHS-7866 was built. In 1861, the roof of the church was extended to protect the side walls as seen in photo CHS-6188. Posts were set in to support the roof. In this same year, the Italian façade--brick veneer--was built." "It was the intention of the padres to found another mission in pretty meadowland a few miles south of San Francisco Bay as soon as the San Francisco mission was well established. The mission of Santa Clara indeed was established only three months later on January 12, 1777. To the dismay of the missionaries, in six more months there arrived a large group of colonists from Mexico. The padres did their best to keep the mission and the pueblo separated, well knowing the detrimental influence of civilians on the neophytes. Ultimately, mission and pueblo grew into the twin cities of Santa Clara and San Jose. In 1784 the mission had to be abandoned because of damage from a great flood. A new site on higher ground was soon occupied, with the help of skilled artisans from the pueblo whose work gave the buildings a much more professional appearance. Yet this skill came to naught in 1818 when an earthquake effectively destroyed the mission again. With seemingly boundless energy the padres built a third time, with everything completed by 1825." -- unknown author.
Type
image
Format
2 photographs : photonegative, photoprint, b&w 21 x 26 cm. negatives (photographic) photographic prints photographs
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