Spanish Catholic Missions and Border History

Abstract

The Catholic missions of Spanish America are an integral part of U.S.-Mexico borderlands history. Using John Russell Bartlett’s Personal narrative of explorations & incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua, volume 1, a 19th century document found in the Our Americas Archive Partnership, I discuss how the missions represent an enduring religious and cultural history that extends from the Spanish colonization of 17th century North America to the U.S.-Mexican War in the mid 19th century to the continuing religious communities of today. I begin by defining the purpose and function of a mission and then move on to briefly discuss the mission settlement of Texas.