Photographs of California Mission Restoration by Jasper Schad

This collection contains 150 photographs and 114 negatives of the restoration of some California missions and their surrounding lands from the late 1940s to mid-1950s. The photographs were taken by Jasper Schad, except for two taken by Brother Barnabas of Mission San Luis Rey.

The missions that are shown in the photos include San Antonio de Padua, San Buenaventura, San Gabriel Arcángel, San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, Santa Barbara, La Purísima Concepción, San Juan Capistrano, Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, San Fernando Rey de España, San Luis Rey de Francia, and Santa Inés. Unidentified mission photographs are also included. The photographs show a contemporary Native American village; a cemetery; restoration work in progress; restoration workers; fully restored mission buildings; contemporary building additions to the missions; mission dedication ceremonies; aerial views of the mission grounds; chapel interiors; branding irons; a confessional; a baptism fountain; a water spout; a lavendería; reservoirs; bell towers; furniture; mission ruins; and Goodwin Knight, Robert O. Schad, Joseph Scott, and Father Finbar Kenneally, all of whom appear once in this collection.

Jasper Schad had indicated in an interview that he had taken these photos as an amateur during a trip his parents had taken him on to fuel his interest in history. The collection also holds ten non-mission negatives, all of which depict California locations; Mr. Schad mentioned that his parents had included these negatives in this collection because it was thought the negatives would be of interest to the Huntington. The negatives show Kennedy Gold Mine, Bale Grist Mill, the sitting room of Andres Pico Adobe, and an unidentified Ventura turn-of-the-century house. Some images exist only in negative format.