Last updated: 7/21/2009
6701 San Jose DriveSan Antonio, TX 78214
2202 Roosevelt AvenueSan Antonio, TX 78210
No Charge; donations accepted
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Stephen E. Whitesell
phone: 210-534-8833
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Mark Chavez
phone: 210-534-8833
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Dr. Rosalind Rock
phone: 210-534-8833
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San Antonio Missions National Historical Park contains the nation's most concentrated and diverse collection of Spanish colonial mission cultural resources
that support the values associated with their history and continued use Three themes drive the interpretive program:
Theme A- In the European contest for the Americas, the Spanish throne utilized the powers and resources of Church and State to expand the empire by establishing missions with the objective of religious conversion and acculturation of indigenous people.
Theme B- While the more far-flung settlements to the north and east failed, the characteristics of the San Antonio River and a concentration of native peoples responsive to the benefits of the mission system enabled the San Antonio Missions to become a self-sustaining outpost on the frontier of New Spain.
Theme C-The San Antonio missions system accelerated the encounter, adaptation, and assimilation of cultures that created a dynamic, complex, and diverse community that continues to evolve today.
In 1998, park visitation was 1.2 million. The park offers ranger and docent-guided activities at each of the four missions, a 12,000 square foot visitor center containing exhibits and an award-winning film (located next to Mission San Jose, and special education programs and activities throughout the year. The park is developing education materials for all grade levels that tie into the Texas Essential Knowledges and Skills (TEKS).
Key park partners are the park friends group, Los Compadres, a non-profit that has raised almost $2 million for special park projects related to interpretation and historic preservation; and the Southwest Parks and Monuments Association that offers book sales at three locations in the park.
The missions have long been a source of local pride to San Antonians,
and with the advent of the 20* century, organizations such as the San Antonio Conservation Society worked to preserve them. In 1941, Mission San Jose was established as a Texas State Park.
The park's focus is upon preservation of the historic resources and educational programs for a diverse audience. Programs emphasize the history and significance of the four missions and other features found within the park: Missions Concepci6n, San Jose, San Juan, Espada, the historic Espada Dam and Aqueduct, the remaining acequias, and Rancho de las Cabras.
In 1978, the United States Congress established San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. Operations commenced in 1983, with the signing of a series of cooperating agreements which allowed the National Park Service to manage some park resources that were not federally owned. Cooperating agreements were signed with the Archdiocese of San Antonio (to allow for the continuation of religious activities), the State of Texas, and the San Antonio Conservation Society.
The park presently employs 41 permanent employees in the disciplines of management, administration, visitor protection and natural resources management, maintenance and preservation, interpretation, and historic architecture, landscape architecture, and history and curatorial.
The artifact collection includes approximately 30,000 objects in over 250
accessions. It is a working collection comprised ofartifacts, mainly sherds and fragments of metal, stone, bone, ceramic and glass retrieved during archeological excavation with some visitor and staff "finds." The three museum exhibit areas in the park: the main museum at the park's visitor center located at Mission San ]ose, and exhibits at missions San Juan and Espada are comprised of several items from the park's collection, largely objects on loan from various museums as well as replicas. There are several copies ofartwork on display as well as copies of historic photographs, with one original pencil drawing dating from the late 1840s on display at the visitor center. The scope of the artifact collection as well as exhibit items is that of the Spanish colonial mission era to the present, reflecting continuous occupation of the mission sites. The majority of items are Hispanic with origins in Mexico and in South Texas, dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The park contains a small research library and archive maintained at the headquarters building at 2202 Roosevelt Avenue, San Antonio, Texas. The park's historian acts as its librarian and archivist The collection contains books, government reports (published and unpublished), as well as magazines and journals pertaining to the National Park Service, public history, and the history of colonial Texas, Mexico and the American Southwest. There is an archive collection of approximately 50 reels of microfilmed documents of the Spanish colonial period in Texas. These include the Bexar Archives, 1709-1803, the Bexar County Archives including mission land records, and select documents from the Franciscan colleges at Querdtaro and Zacatecas concerning their mission fields in Texas.
The collection is available by appointment only Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM. It is closed on Federal
holidays. Please call Rosalind Rock, the park's historian at 210-534-8875 x 228.
Daily interpretive activities for the public, teacher workshops, docent training two to three times a year 60-80 hours, special programs. Generally, we average six interpretive activities each day. Education materials about the missions and the Spanish colonial effort in South Texas are in development. They will soon be posted on our Internet site.
On-going development of interpretive materials. Items published by the Southwest Parks and Monuments Association which are sold in the park and which pertain to the missions. Lewis Fisher " The Spanish Missions of San Antonio"; Marion Habig " The Alamo Chain of Missions"; Luis Torres " San Antonio Missions National Historical Park".
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