California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960

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

Exterior view of the front and west side of Mission San Buenaventura, Ventura, California, ca.1890

(USC DC Image)

Exterior view of the front and west side of Mission San Buenaventura, Ventura, California, ca.1890

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Photograph of the exterior view of the front and west side of Mission San Buenaventura, Ventura, California, ca.1890. The church and bell tower are about two-stories tall. The church features a large triangular pediment above its arched entrance. A flight of stairs leads from the sidewalk to the entrance. There are crosses at the apex of the roof proper as well as on top of the bell tower.; "It was on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1782, that Father Serra founded the mission, San Buenaventura, which proved to be the last he established personally. The Spanish King had changed his position again, claiming that a few white settlers were of greater value than any number of Indians. Father Serra argued that the money to found the missions came from the privately collected Pious Fund. The King replied that by law he administered the Pious Fund. New missions would be churches only, without usual industries supported by Indian labor. Serra ignored the new rules at Ventura, which temporarily halted further expansion. Even so, under the old rules, Ventura was quickly most prosperous. A reservoir and aqueduct system seven miles long supplied fields stretching to the very shore of the blue Pacific, growing, according to one record, 'astounding' varieties of agricultural products. Of course, with secularization, those rules originally ignored were completely enforced. By 1845 all the lands and even the church itself had been confiscated, although the church and a few bits of other property were eventually returned. The sleepy village beside the mission suddenly blossomed in 1887 with the arrival of the railroad. Now located on the main street of the city of Ventura, and hemmed in by the business community, it might be difficult to imagine that the old church was once surrounded by orchards, vineyards, and grain fields which made it a garden spot of the missions, thanks to the aqueduct. Two huge Norfolk Island pines in the garden between the church and little museum are 100 years old, reputedly planted by a sailing captain who hoped to grow a forest for use as masts. In the museum are two old wooden bells, the only ones of their type known in California." -- unknown author.

Asset Metadata

Title Exterior view of the front and west side of Mission San Buenaventura, Ventura, California, ca.1890

Subject Bell towers (lcsh), Catholic Church (lcsh), Churches, Catholic (lcsh), Franciscans (lcsh), Mission San Buenaventura (subject), Missions -- Mission San Buenaventura (file heading), Missions, Spanish (lcsh), religious facilities (adlf)

Tags OAI-PMH Harvest

Place 100 E. Main Street (roadway), California (states), USA (countries), Ventura (city or populated place), Ventura (counties)

Temporal Subject 1890

Type images

Format 1 photograph : photoprint, b&w ; 21 x 26 cm. (aacr2), 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 1890

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-m7170

Identifier 5912 (accession number), CHS-5912 (call number), CHS-5912 (filename), chs-m265 (legacy collection record id), chs-c65-7312 (legacy record id), chs-m7170 (legacy record id), USC-1-1-1-7296 (legacy record id), 1-125-28 (microfiche number), USC (project)

IIIF ID [Document.IIIFV3ID]

DM Record ID 7312

Unique identifier UC123049

Legacy Identifier CHS-5912.tiff

Type Image

Internet Media Type image/tiff

Resolution 14.0 in × 17.1 in at 300dpi
35.5 cm × 43.4 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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