Teaching with Special Collections: Manuscripts and Personal Paper Collections

 The Mission Santa Clara Manuscript Collection consists of hundreds of manuscripts written, collected, and used by the Franciscans at Mission Santa Clara, from the founding of the Mission in 1777 until the arrival of the Jesuits in 1851.

Dating back to the founding of the Mission Santa Clara in 1777, the manuscript and personal papers collections include papers from the original Mission, papers from faculty, students, and others with a relationship to Santa Clara University, and other collections acquired to support the research interests of faculty and students. 

These libguides to our Mission Santa Clara and Early California Settlers and Immigrants Collections can assist you with planning your class visits.

Over the course of the first half of the nineteenth century, California would change hands from Spain to Mexico to the United States. Eventually California became the thirty-first state of the United States of America on September 9, 1850. During this period of political and cultural shifts, many settlers came to California and began to call it home.  Overall, California experienced a large population boom from the last half of the nineteenth century due largely to wide-scale immigration from Europe, Asia, and South America.

Archives & Special Collection in the Santa Clara University Library has a rich collection of manuscripts and personal papers of Early California Settlers and Immigrants that came to the San Francisco Bay Area during this time frame. Additionally, we have the papers of 21st Century immigrants that were affiliated with SCU, such as the Chicano novelists Francisco Jiménez and José Antonio Villarreal.