The Earliest Libraries in the Californias: Jesuit Missions of Baja California

The Earliest Libraries in the Californias: Jesuit Missions of Baja California
By Robert H. Jackson with Anne Gardzina

 

The founding of Nuestra Señora de Loreto on 25 October 1697 by Father Juan María de Salvatierra marked the beginning of the permanent occupation of the Californias by Europeans. Although there are no known specific reports of the entry of books either by missionaries in their baggage or by cargo shipments, it is evident that, as the range of activity increased, each missionary established a library at his respective mission. These libraries can be divided into four sections: the working section of religious books such as missals, breviaries, diurnals, bibles, devotionaries, sermons, catechisms, and confessionaries; the study section of works of theology, philosophy, patristics, metaphysics, edifying letters and biographies, and Indian languages; the reference section of works on law, medicine, architecture, mathematics, natural history, cooking, and manual arts; and, the entertainment section with books of history, poetry, essays, and novels. Due to the isolation of the peninsular missions, these libraries were the only form of contact with Western culture for the university-educated, elite missionaries of the Society of Jesus. In that the sole cultural companion of the Jesuit in Baja California was a single soldier, frequently illiterate, the few books in the mission were the fathers' only means of expanding their knowledge and of entertainment. There was evidently an active exchange of volumes between missions, and also, in many instances, there were multiple copies of some titles throughout the peninsula.

mission_loreto_baja

Mission Nuestra Señora de Loreto - Baja, California

With the Pragmatic Sanction of Charles III in June of 1767 decreeing the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from Spanish domains, the Baja California missions were transferred to the Franciscans in the following year, and the latter, upon advancing their activities to Alta California, relinquished the peninsular missions to the Dominicans in 1773. As a result of these transfers, inventories taken between 19 May and 28 June 1773 include abbreviated titles of volumes contained in the respective libraries. Due to the passive nature of the Franciscan occupation and the need for more essential items from the former Jesuit missions in Alta California, these libraries were little changed from the date of expulsion. Located in the Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico, Misiones 12, expediente 10, the full inventories in their original form have been published by Eligio Moises Coronado, DESCRIPCIÓN E INVENTARIOS DE LAS MISIONES DE BAJA CALIFORNIA, 1773 (Palma: Institut D'Estudis Balearics, 1987.), and the library inventories, with complete bibliographic entries, appear in Michael Mathes, "Oasis Culturales en la Antigua California: Las Bibliotecas de las Misiones de Baja California en 1773," ESTUDIOS DE HISTORIA NOVOHISPANA 10 (1991), 369-442.

With the eventual abandonment of Baja California missions between 1833 and 1855, their libraries were also gradually dispersed by theft, neglect, or exposure to the elements. In that the Jesuit missions were the sole occupants of the peninsula during their existence, books were not branded, marked, or otherwise identified, and to date, no known title once pertaining to these missions has been located. Nevertheless, the inventories present excellent insight into mission culture, and particularly notable is the high number of works by Jesuit authors, the predominance of titles in Castilian, the number of imprints from New Spain, and the 133 titles of history and biography in light of the fact that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, most American libraries primarily contained works in Latin, printed in Europe, and treating strictly religious, classical, or legalistic themes.

The following provides a statistical overview of these earliest California libraries:

MISSION

Nuestra Señora de Loreto

San Francisco Javier Viggé-Biaundó

San José de Comondu

La Purísima Concepción de Cadegomó

Santa RosaIía de Mulegé

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Huasinapí

San Ignacio Cadacaamán

Santa Gertrudis

Santiago

Nuestra Señora del Pilar (Todos Santos)

San Francisco Borja

San Fernando Velicatá

Santa María de los Angeles

TOTAL

TITLES

176

72

117

37

18

73

161

NA

NA

NA

14

6

19

862

VOLUMES

340

138

144

84

273

143

222

100

152

193

25

10

13

1,855

Number of Titles by Language:

Cáhita

Castilian

French

German

Italian

Latin

Nahuatl

Opata

Tarasco

1

269

6

3

26

138

1

1

1

Authors by Religious Order:

Jesuit

Franciscan

Dominican

Other orders

144

26

16

23

Number of Titles by Subject:

Biography, lives

Grammars, dictionaries

History, geography, voyages

Holy scripture

Law (civil and canon), politics

Literature

Manuals, missals, calendars,devotionaries, rules

Manual arts (cooking, agriculture, etc.)

Morals

Philosophy, metaphysics

Sciences, medicine

Sermons, homilies

Theology

63

16

65

30

11

5

79

6

57

21

15

127

33

WORKS & AUTHORS ININDEX LIBORUM PROHIBITORUMET EXPURGATORUM
Madrid: Emmanuelis Fernández, 1747

Works

Authors

22

40

Places of Imprint in Spain:

Alcalá de Henares

Barcelona

Burgos

Cervera

Córdoba

Gerona

Granada

Madrid

Medina del Campo

Oliva

Pamplona

Sacer

Salamanca

Sevilla

Valencia

Valladolid

Zaragoza

Titles Imprinted Outside Europe:

Mexico and Puebla

Lima

Manila

85

2

1