California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960

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

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

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

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Photograph of the exterior view of Mission San Luis Rey from the rear, showing the cemetery and mortuary chapel, San Diego, California, ca.1887. The cemetery (at left) and nearby buildings, including the church (center), are in dilapidated condition. Rocks, twigs, and wild grass cover the cemetery lot. Picket-fence-like boundaries complemented with crosses can be seen near the mortuary chapel (possibly marking grave spots?). Parts of the dome roof and the wall of the nearby mortuary chapel have crumbled. Behind the mortuary chapel stands a tall dome-capped tower. Caption reads: "rear view of San Luis Rey Mission before renovation."; "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 Exterior view of Mission San Luis Rey from the rear, showing the cemetery and mortuary chapel, San Diego, California, ca.1887

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 1887

Type images

Format 2 photographs : glass photonegative, photoprint, b&w ; 21 x 26 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)

Date Created 1887

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

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

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-m17495

Identifier 5874 (accession number), CHS-5874 (call number), CHS-5874 (filename), chs-m265 (legacy collection record id), chs-c65-17487 (legacy record id), chs-m17495 (legacy record id), USC-1-1-1-14091 (legacy record id), 1-140-59 (microfiche number), USC (project)

IIIF ID [Document.IIIFV3ID]

DM Record ID 17487

Unique identifier UC142821

Legacy Identifier CHS-5874.tiff

Type Image

Internet Media Type image/tiff

Resolution 17.0 in × 13.6 in at 300dpi
43.1 cm × 34.6 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

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

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Exterior view of the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia from the rear, showing cemetery, ca.1880

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

Engraved circular pillars in mortuary chapel at Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, ca.1905

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

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

Drawing of Mission San Luis Rey taken from Alfred Robinson's book, "Life in California", California, ca.1839

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, California, cemetery from the rear, 1899

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia, California. Church yard in ruins, from rear of cemetery, ca.1887

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Exterior view of the Mission San Luis Rey taken from the cemetrary, San Diego, ca.1900

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

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

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Exterior view of the San Luis Rey de Francia Mission during its re-dedication, San Diego, May 1893

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