California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960

Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

View of the stairs to the choir loft at Mission San Luis Rey, San Diego, California, 1885

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View of the stairs to the choir loft at Mission San Luis Rey, San Diego, California, 1885

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Photograph of a view of the stairs to the choir loft at Mission San Luis Rey, San Diego, California, 1885. The dilapidated stairs is situated next to the walls of the building. The lower parts of the adobe handrails has crumbled. The building is in similar dilapidated conditions. Near the stairs is a door (leading into the church?). In front of the large arched door and to the left is a fountain (or well?). Rocks and grass cover the ground areas. At left is a tree with a crate(?) beneath it.; "Although the last mission to be founded in the south, San Luis Rey the 'King of the Missions' came to be the largest and richest of all. A great quadrangle was 500 feet on a side. An intricate aqueduct system supplied water for the mission and gardens as well as for pools used for bathing and laundry. In the year 1831 an incredible 16,000 cattle, 25,500 sheep and 2,150 horses graced the far-flung ranchos. 395,000 bushels of grain and 2,500 barrels of wine were produced by that same year. Mexico, once free from Spain, began to divide the spoils of the mission system. Governor Pio Pico and his brother alone appropriated 90,000 acres of Mission San Luis Rey land for themselves. By 1846 the last vestige of mission life had disappeared. Finally, the U. S. Government gathered the last of the Indians into a 'temporary' home on a reservation at Pala. They are still there, the only original site where Mission Indians are still ministered to. The original decree, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on March 18, 1861, which returned the mission buildings and a few surrounding acres to the Church, is displayed today in the mission museum. Even so, years of vandalism and neglect followed before Franciscans from Mexico returned in 1892, to begin a restoration which has recaptured much of the grandeur of old." -- unknown author.

Asset Metadata

Title View of the stairs to the choir loft at Mission San Luis Rey, San Diego, California, 1885

Creator Pierce, C.C. (Charles C.), 1861-1946 (photographer)

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Date Created 1885

Subject Missions -- Mission San Luis Rey de Francia (file heading), Missions, Spanish (lcsh), religious facilities (adlf), San Luis Rey de Francia Mission (subject)

Tags OAI-PMH Harvest

Place California (states), San Diego (counties), San Luis Rey (city or populated place), USA (countries)

Temporal Subject 1885

Type images

Format 2 photographs : glass photonegative, photoprint, b&w ; 26 x 21 cm. (aacr2), glass plate negatives (format), photographic prints (aat), photographs (aat)

Source California Historical Society (contributing entity), California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960 (collection), Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960 (subcollection)

Repository Email specol@lib.usc.edu

Repository Name USC Libraries Special Collections

Repository Location Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189

Rights Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Copyright Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Access Conditions Send requests to address or e-mail given

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/chs-m17494

Identifier 5873 (accession number), CHS-5873 (call number), CHS-5873 (filename), chs-m265 (legacy collection record id), chs-c65-17486 (legacy record id), chs-m17494 (legacy record id), USC-1-1-1-14091 (legacy record id), 1-140-58 (microfiche number), USC (project)

IIIF ID [Document.IIIFV3ID]

DM Record ID 17486

Unique identifier UC142850

Legacy Identifier CHS-5873.tiff

Type Image

Internet Media Type image/tiff

Resolution 13.5 in × 16.8 in at 300dpi
34.2 cm × 42.7 cm at 300dpi

Inherited Values

Title Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Description The nearly 15,000 unique photographs of this collection contain the work of C.C. Pierce which cover the Los Angeles region city, street and architectural views, California Missions, Southwestern Native Americans, and turn-of-century Nevada, Arizona, and California. Pierce, active from 1886 to 1940, was one of the leading photographers of his day and amassed a collection of 15,000 images, including his own and those bought and copied from his contemporaries, George Wharton James and Charles Puck. The James collection contains over 2,000 images of portraits, customs, ceremonies, arts, and games of various groups of Southwestern Native Americans.

Date Created 1860/1960

Linked assets

Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Conceptually similar

Exterior view of Mission San Luis Rey, San Diego, California, 1885

Arches of the corridors at the southwest corner of Mission San Luis Rey, San Diego, 1885

Exterior of church at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, showing door and stairs to choir loft, 1899

View of the cemetery and mortuary chapel at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, San Luis Rey, 1885

Exterior view of Mission San Luis Rey from the rear, showing the cemetery and mortuary chapel, San Diego, California, ca.1887

Distant view of Mission San Luis Rey, showing the mission and its surroundings, San Diego, California, ca.1905

Exterior view of Mission San Luis de Francia, ca.1885

Interior of church at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, looking toward the choir loft, front door, and confessional, 1899

Father O'Keefe standing halfway up the brick stairs leading to the choir outside at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, August 2, 1900

Portrait of a group of monks at Mission San Luis Rey, 1902

Painting of an exterior view of Mission San Luis Rey from 1840(?), [s.d.]

Priest standing on exterior stairs at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, ca.1905

Father O'Keefe and a group of monks standing at the foot of the brick stairs leading to the choir outside at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, August 2, 1900

Father O'Keefe follows a group of monks about to walk up the brick stairs leading to the choir outside at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, August 2, 1900

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, San Diego, California, 1887

Father Superior O'Keefe standing at the foot of the brick stairs leading to the choir outside at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, August 2, 1900

Drawing of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia by Henry Chapman Ford, ca.1883

Exterior view of the south aspect of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, California, ca.1885

Baptismal fount at the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in San Diego, 1903

Exterior view of Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, ca.1885-1887

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