Lou K. Ross Lantern Slide Collection of Southern California Missions

This collection includes lantern slides of eleven California missions, all of which are portrayed through artists' renderings or through photographs. The missions are shown in states of past affluence and of then present disrepair. The slides are meant to accompany a slideshow lecture given by Mrs. Lou K. Ross to educate Los Angeles club groups about the condition of the missions in the 1920s The lantern slides in this collection depict both photographs and artistic renderings of some California missions in various constructional states. The missions that are shown on the slides include San Carlos Borroméo de Carmelo, San Gabriel Arcángel, San Juan Capistrano, San Miguel Arcángel, San Buenaventura, San Diego de Alcalá, San Fernando Rey, San Juan Bautista, San Luis Rey, San Rafael Arcángel, and Santa Barbara. Scenes of the missions portray their ruins, restoration, interiors, and artistic imaginings of mission life in the 18th and 19th centuries. The slides also show Indian women with baskets, the secularization of the missions, Dana Point, cactus plants, memorials, Los Angeles, a drive-in market, the California coast, a date palm, an olive press, Father Junípero Serra, and Eulalia Pérez de Guillén. "Missions and Romance of Southern California," a typescript lecture written by Mrs. Lou K. Ross in 1929, is included in the information file for this collection. The lecture was designed to educate Los Angeles club groups on the condition of the California missions at the time; it also notes which lantern slides correspond to certain points in the lecture.