Overview of the Collection
Administrative Information
History
Scope and Content
Overview of the Collection
Provenance: Mission Santa Clara
Mission Santa Clara
Title: Mission Santa Clara Book Collection,
Date: 1548-1835
Repository:
Santa Clara University Archives
Extent: 287 bound volumes
Collection Number: 1B
Abstract: The Mission Santa Clara Book Collection is comprised of 148 titles of Mission-period books, dating from 1548-1835. The Collection
was the library for Mission Santa Clara, founded in 1777 by the Franciscan Fathers. The volumes are primarily religious books
including Bibles, breviaries, devotional works, theological publications, and compilations of sermons. Some volumes are reference
volumes about agriculture.
Languages:
and [code "Spanish" not found in ISO 639-2 list].
Administrative Information
Access
Santa Clara University permits public access to its archives within the context of respect for individual privacy, administrative
confidentiality, and the integrity of the records. It reserves the right to close all or any portion of its records to researchers.
The archival files of any office may be opened to a qualified researcher by the administrator of that office or his/her designee
at any time.
Archival collections may be used by researchers only in the Reading Room of the University Archives at the discretion of the
archivist.
Publications Rights
Permission to copy or publish any portion of the Archives' materials must be given by the University Archivist.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Mission Santa Clara Book Collection, Santa Clara University. University Archives.
History
The Mission Santa Clara Book Collection was created by the Franciscan Fathers when they founded Mission Santa Clara in 1777.
Many of the volumes were brought from the Colegio de San Fernando in Mexico City, the headquarters of the Franciscans in New
Spain. When Mission Santa Clara was transferred from the Franciscans to the Jesuits to establish Santa Clara College in 1851,
many of these volumes were transferred as well. Some volumes were in private ownership and have since been returned to the
Mission Book Collection in the Archives (accession 992-026). Additional Mission-period books are located in the Special Collections
of Orradre Library, and the de Saisset Museum.
Scope and Content
The Mission Santa Clara Book Collection consists of 148 titles totaling 287 volumes. Many of the volumes were brought from
the Colegio de San Fernando in Mexico City, the headquarters of the Franciscans in New Spain, to Mission Santa Clara when
it was founded by the Franciscans in 1777. The titles are primarily religious works including Bibles, breviaries, devotional
works, theological publications, and compilations of sermons, and are written in Spanish, Latin or French. Many titles are
multiple-volume works. Volumes from the Colegio de San Fernando are labeled with the inscription from the College.
Arrangement
The Mission Santa Clara Book Collection is arranged alphabetically by first letter of the author or title of the book, then
numerically by the number of titles in the alpha series. All titles are Record Group 1B.
Note
Additional guides or inventories have been prepared for many of the volumes in the Mission Santa Clara Book Collection. In
1851, Fr. Real , O.F.M., prepared an inventory of the books and artifacts turned over to Fr. John Nobili, S.J., when Mission
Santa Clara property was transferred from the Franciscan missionaries to the Jesuit order for the establishment of Santa Clara
College. Fr. Nobili was one of the founders of the College. The volumes that were listed on Fr. Real's inventory of 1851 are
indicated in component level descriptions in this finding aid, referenced as Real numbers.
In 1961, an inventory of the Mission Santa Clara books was prepared as a Master's thesis by Santa Clara University librarian
Beryl Hoskin, and published as "A History of the Santa Clara Mission Library," Oakland: Biobooks, 1961. The volumes described
here that were listed in the Hoskin inventory are indicated in the item descriptions in this finding aid, referenced as Hoskin
numbers.