SAN ANTONIO'S SPANISH MISSIONS AND THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY, 1718-2015 A ...

388 Pages·2016·3.62 MB·English

SAN ANTONIO’S SPANISH MISSIONS AND THE PERSISTENCE OF
MEMORY, 1718-2015

A Dissertation

by

JOEL DANIEL KITCHENS

Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of
Texas A&M University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Chair of Committee, Carlos Blanton
Committee Members, April Hatfield
Felipe Hinojosa
Glenn Chambers
Clint Machann
Head of Department, David Vaught

December 2016

Major Subject: History

Copyright 2016 Joel Daniel Kitchens
ABSTRACT
This dissertation examines the five extant missions in San Antonio, Texas over
the course of nearly three hundred years. While the time period may seem overly
ambitious, the geographic territory is highly concentrated, covering just a few miles.
San Antonio holds the largest concentration of colonial Spanish architecture in the
United States. In July, 2015, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) granted World Heritage Status to the missions. This
distinguished designation includes Mission San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), Mission
Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción, Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo,
Mission San Juan Capistrano, and Mission San Francisco de la Espada.
Because detailed information on the design and construction of the missions has
yet to be found, speculation and romantic myths have grown up around the missions.
These romantic myths were the basis for Anglo collective memories, particularly after
the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. This dissertation examines the origins of the missions as
the sources of some of these myths and memories. Advances in both print capitalism
and transportation brought San Antonio’s missions to the attention of the traveling
public. From the late nineteenth century into the present day these fantasies have been
used to market San Antonio to tourists as a romantic and exotic destination.
Additionally, other groups besides Anglos have their own collective memories related to
the missions. For the local Tejano, Mexican-American, and Native American
populations, the missions have served as sacred space, homes, and communities for three
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hundred years. Although the memories of ethnic minorities have been muted for many
years, the Anglo veneer in San Antonio is not deep. Scratching the surface quickly
reveals a deeper, more complex heritage. Collective memories are often divorced from
historical reality, and the myths at the missions exemplify this. Conversely, the myths
and memories of the missions also brought national interest and much-needed repairs
and restorations, keeping this Spanish legacy relevant for future generations.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A dissertation is a curious thing: one person receives a degree for doing the
research and writing the manuscript while others remain anonymous. When this
manuscript is accepted and entered into the Texas A&M University repository for digital
dissertations, only one name will be listed as author. But in reality, there are many
family, friends, and colleagues who have collaborated, encouraged, and contributed to
the completion of this work. Their contributions appear as sources, ideas, suggestions,
and questions; as well as encouragement, faith, tears, hugs, jokes, laughter, good food
and drink, joyous times, quiet times, and distance when I needed the space to think and
write. To all of you who have shared this journey with me, I am profoundly grateful.
There are a number of people who deserve special mention, and I will start with
those who are no longer here (sadly there are too many of you). To Rev. Daniel Z.
Kitchens; Dad, I so wanted you to see this goal accomplished, but your untimely passing
just as I was beginning my doctoral studies perhaps inspired me even more to see the
project through to completion. To Dr. D. Gentry Steele, your friendship and mentoring
on things relating to our photographic pursuits, as well as navigating the treacherous
waters of academia was timely, insightful, invaluable, and much too short. To Dr.
Rosalind Z. “Roz” Rock, historian of the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park;
thanks for the package of copies of sources, for the translations you published, and the
encouragement you gave me at the Borderlands Interest Group meetings of the Texas
State Historical Association. To Mgr. Balthazar Janacek, of the Archdiocese of San
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Antonio; we only met once, while I was photographing at Mission San Juan, but your
warm words of encouragement of my stated ambitions was much appreciated at the time,
and your enthusiasm for these old missions was definitely infectious. And to Thomas
(Felis catus), thanks for showing us how to grow old on one’s own terms. God bless
you all!
There is an old axiom to the effect that “charity begins at home.” To that end, I
thank my colleagues, fellow faculty librarians and talented professional staff, at the
Texas A&M University Libraries. Thanks for your patience and for stepping in when
classes, research, and writing called me away from my duties. I especially want to thank
fellow Humanities Librarian Candace Benefiel for many insights and discussions that
have helped me over the years. I also want to thank Mr. Bill Page, whose innate
curiosity, determination, and genealogical expertise is a constant help (not just with the
dissertation, but as part of my regular “day-job” as well!). Thanks also go to Jenny
Reibenspies and Pilar Baskett of the Cushing Memorial Library for the excellent scans
of rare materials from the Texas A&M University special collections.
I hold as dogma that for historians, libraries are equivalent to laboratories.
Therefore, I want to offer a note of thanks to the wonderful professional librarians and
staff of the following libraries: the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library (although
its original location on the Alamo premises is now closed but it is a treasure for anyone
doing research on Texas history, not just the Alamo), the San Antonio Public Library
(especially the Texana Department), Bro. Ed Loch at the Catholic Archives of San
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Antonio, the Catholic Archives of Texas (Austin), the DeGolyer Library at Southern
Methodist University, the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University
of Texas at Austin, the Alexander Architectural Archives at The University of Texas at
Austin.
Tuition, student fees, and visiting libraries and repositories takes time and
(especially) money. For the later I am particularly grateful to the TAMU Libraries’
McLemore grants which have paid most all of my student expenses in terms of tuition
and fees. Special thanks go out to the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies
at Southern Methodist University, and to the James Butler Bonham Chapter of the
Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Through the generosity of the Bonham Chapter of
the DRT and their funding of travel grants through the Clements Center, I was able to
spend two weeks in the DeGolyer Library digging through their rich holdings. The folks
at the Clements Center were wonderful to work with and I am grateful for the time there.
To the History Department of Texas A&M University, thank you Dr. Walter
Buenger and Dr. David Vaught, former chair and current chair of the History
Department respectively, for allowing me to pursue my life goal in a not-so-traditional
way. Thanks also to each member of my dissertation committee: Dr. April Hatfield, Dr.
Felipe Hinojosa, Dr. Glenn Chambers (now at Michigan State University), and Dr. Clint
Machann of the TAMU Department of English. Additionally, I need to thank Dr. Anat
Geva of the TAMU Department of Architecture as an “unofficial” committee member.
A very special word of thanks goes to Dr. Carlos K. Blanton, my dissertation chair, who
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has had to read these chapters multiple times. I also appreciate his openness and
willingness to accept a non-traditional doctoral student as a long-term project. I hope
this dissertation will be something of which we can both be proud.
My family deserves special mention. To my in-laws, Jerry and Glenda Mosley,
thank you so much for welcoming me into your family, and not being too hard on me for
my Deep South upbringing. Thanks Mom for your unwavering love, support, and faith.
I wish you and Andy many more wonderful years together. To my brother John David,
thanks for inspiring me to never give up on my dream of earning the Ph.D. And a very
special expression of kindness and gratitude goes to my uncle and aunt, Dr. John W. and
Lynne B. Kitchens, who understand first-hand the sacrifices in pursuit of a doctorate in
History.
To my darling wife, Pixey, mere words cannot describe my gratitude for all the
sacrifices you made. I did not intend for you to be a “Ph.D. widow” for such a long
time. You read much more of this dissertation that either of us intended for you to do.
You kept our household stocked with the necessities of life, kept the bills paid, and all
the other mundane and mind-numbing chores that modern life demands. You put aside
too many vacations, you went on too many conference trips by yourself, and spent too
many evenings alone because I was reading for class, or writing, or was out of town on
research. I know this will never suffice, but I thank you from the depths of my soul.
Maybe now we can get back to evening walks around the neighborhood, bike rides, and
being a couple once again.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………. . ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………. .iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... viii

LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………. ... x

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION: HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE TEXAS
MISSIONS: STILL LIVING IN THE PAST?....................................................... ............ 1

CHAPTER II BUILDING MISSIONS, MYTHS, AND MEMORIES ON THE
TEXAS FRONTIER, 1718-1836 ..................................................................................... 43

The Genesis of the Texas Missions ...................................................................... 47
Roles of the Missions ........................................................................................... 50
Building the Missions ........................................................................................... 60
Mission Aesthetics ............................................................................................... 64
Architects and Artisans ........................................................................................ 66
Secularization and its Discontents ........................................................................ 85
The Missions and Texas’ Quest for Independence .............................................. 97

CHAPTER III THE SAN ANTONIO MISSION IN TRANSITION: GONE BUT
NOT FORGOTTEN, 1836-1877 .................................................................................... 101

Racial Context in San Antonio After 1836 ........................................................ 105
Tejanos, Race, and ‘Manifest Destiny’ .............................................................. 109
Romantics at the Missions (Part One) ................................................................ 112
Early Texas Boosters and Tourists Discover the Missions ................................ 116
The Missions and the Mexican War ................................................................... 123
How the Alamo Got its “Hump” (With Apologies to Kipling) .......................... 126
The Missions Between the Wars ........................................................................ 137
Missions as Sacred Space ................................................................................... 147
Romantics at the Missions (Part Two) ............................................................... 149

CHAPTER IV MYTHS AND LEGENDS: TOURISM IN GILDED AGE SAN
ANTONIO, 1877-1912 .................................................................................................. 159
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Travel Narratives, Print Culture, and American Identity at the Fin-de-Siècle ... 164
Romantics at the Missions (Part Three) ............................................................. 170
San Antonio and the Missions According to William Corner’s 1890
Guidebook .......................................................................................................... 184
Father Francis Bouchu: Renaissance Man and Savior of Espada ...................... 188
“Madame” Candelaria’s Tales and Alamo Myths .............................................. 191
Southern Pacific’s “Propaganda Machine” ........................................................ 194
Visitors Issue Early Calls for Preservation of the Missions ............................... 200
CHAPTER V IN HER OWN IMAGE: WOMEN PRESERVING THE MISSIONS,
1890-1950 ....................................................................................................................... 210
Women and Preservation in the Progressive Era ............................................... 213
The DRT and the “Second Battle of the Alamo” ............................................... 219
Adina De Zavala Strikes Back…the Mythography of the Missions .................. 231
Rena Maverick Green and SACS at Mission San José ...................................... 235
Ethel Wilson Harris and Archbishop Robert E. Lucey: Saving San José .......... 242
CHAPTER VI SAN ANTONIO AS ‘THE CITY OF MISSIONS:’ MARKETNG
MYTH AND MEMORIES, 1900-1968 ......................................................................... 249
Marketing San Antonio’s Missions in Southern Pacific’s Sunset Magazine ..... 253
San Antonio and Mission Revival Architecture ................................................. 257
Advertising “Romantic San Antonio” and Enticing Tourists to “See
America First” .................................................................................................... 264
The Missions and Big Events: Centennial ’36 and HemisFair ’68 .................... 283
CHAPTER VII CONCLUSION: SAN ANTONIO’S MISSIONS AS ‘SITES OF
MEMORY:’ FROM NATIONAL PARKS TO WORLD HERITAGE STATUS,
1968-2015 ...................................................................................................................... 297
The Missions, the NPS, and New Adventures in Community Relations ........... 300
Davy Crockett is Dead: Now Let Him Rest In Peace ........................................ 307
The Return of the Natives; Or, Had They Ever Left? ........................................ 312
The End of an Era: The DRT vs. the GLO and the Future of the Past ............... 318
Mission Accomplished: San Antonio’s Missions Achieve World Heritage
Status .................................................................................................................. 326
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 336
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LIST OF FIGURES

Page
Figure 2.1 Retable (façade) of Mission San Antonio de Valero showing
proportions as a triumphal arch ............................................................................ 72

Figure 2.2 Portal showing the “broken” Mudejar arch. Mission Espada, San
Antonio, TX ......................................................................................................... 75

Figure 2.3 Rose Window, Mission San José, San Antonio, TX ...................................... 81

Figure 2.4 Façade decoration, “Tree of Jesse,” Mission San José, San Antonio, TX ...... 84

Figure 3.1 Mission San José ........................................................................................... 128

Figure 3.2 Mission Concepción ..................................................................................... 129

Figure 3.3 Ruins of the Alamo, Exterior ........................................................................ 131

Figure 3.4 Ruins of the Alamo, Interior ......................................................................... 132

Figure 4.1 Fourth Mission [Mission Espada], ca. 1892, attributed to photographer
Mary E. Jacobson ............................................................................................... 190

Figure 4.2 View book cover, The Missions of Texas ..................................................... 199

Figure 6.1 Louisiana and Texas for the Winter Tourist ................................................. 268

Figure 6.2 Texas Centennial Celebration poster, Mission San José .............................. 289

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