PRESERVING THE OLD MISSIONS OF CALIFORNIA 
By Katherine Louise Smith 
A MOST interesting project concerning 
the Old Missions of California has 
arisen lately. It is the systematic preserva¬ 
tion of these old types of Spanish architecture 
and the completion of a road that shall lead 
from one to the other. The incentive of this 
undertaking is largely due to the artist Edwin 
Deakin, as it is through his work that wide 
interest has been attracted to these buildings, 
and that women's clubs and other organiza¬ 
tions are eagerly seeking authentic informa¬ 
tion as to the history of these ruins. Edwin 
Deakin has been called an art-historian. 
Certainly he has told with his brush a history 
which no pen has begun to portray with 
one-tenth the veracity. As a hoy in England 
he was interested in old forms of architecture, 
particularly those of mediaeval times, and it 
is natural that the most striking examples of 
Spanish art that we have in this country 
should appeal to him as the soft chime of 
some never-to-be-forgotten bells. 
The result is a marvelous collection of 
twenty-one paintings showing the exact loca¬ 
tion of the missions and their forms. When 
these were exhibited in the Palace Hotel in 
San Francisco all that part of California was 
interested and especially when it was learned 
that perilous and long journeys had been 
undertaken to 
reach these 
buildings. At 
least seventeen 
of these paint¬ 
ings were from 
the original, 
the others were 
taken from 
daguerreotypes 
or drawings 
and descrip¬ 
tions, since 
some of them 
have almost 
ceased to exist. 
It required 
heroic self- 
sacrifice and 
courage to ac¬ 
complish this work which will stand as a 
memorial to the enthusiasm of one man who 
desired to immortalize the beauties of what 
is historically and technically the noblest 
architecture in the United States. In reality 
this constitutes nearly thirty years of effort 
on Mr. Deakin’s part, and it was fortunate 
that the artist began his work before the 
buildings were in the ruinous condition of the 
present day. 
All of the pictures are striking, but none 
perhaps appeal more forcibly to the lover of 
the picturesque than that of San Juan Capis¬ 
trano which was partially destroyed by earth¬ 
quake in 1812. It is a fine example of 
Spanish colonial architecture whose partially 
destroyed walls yet show the remains of 
charming frescoes and colorings. This is 
somewhat rare in these missions, for though 
all persons grant the architecture is good, 
most critics feel that the priests failed in 
their decorations, copying with poor material 
their remembrances of art in Spain, rather 
than drawing on Nature about them for 
inspiration. 
A world of history lurks around these 
missions which may be said to have attained 
their prosperity during the first part of the 
19th century, although the earliest of the 
Spanish mis¬ 
sions was start¬ 
ed in the seven¬ 
teenth century. 
The story of 
the missions is 
a long one, run¬ 
ning through 
the Jesuit, 
Dominican and 
Franciscan rule 
to the present 
time. They 
were, of course, 
designed for 
the instruction 
of the Indians 
in the truths 
of Christianity 
and the arts of 
THE CLOISTER OF SAN MIGUEL 
U5 
