The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Summer 1977, Volume 23, Number 3
James E. Moss, Editor
Thomas L. Scharf, Assistant Editor

Douglas H. Strong, Book Review Editor

The Religious Heritage of Southern California: A Bicentennial Survey. Edited by Msgr. Francis J. Weber. Los Angeles, Interreligious Council of Southern California, 1976. 119 pages. $3.00.

This brief undocumented volume traces the history of diverse religious groups in southern California. The six chapters, each written by a recognized author, deal with the Jewish community, Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox and Eastern Churches, Protestant Churches, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and various less conventional eastern religions and spiritual movements.


Some California Catholic Reminiscences for the United States Bicentennial. Edited by Msgr. Francis J. Weber. N.p., 1976.166 pages. $5.00.

This book, issued by the California Catholic Conference, presents 12 essays by established California academicians and clergy on Catholicism in California, particularly in the missionary period.


Beautiful California. Edited by Elizabeth Hogan. A Sunset Pictorial Book. Menlo Park, Ca., Lane Publishing Co., 1977. 224 pages. $5.95.

Beautiful California, offered at an attractive price, provides a portrait of the diversity and beauty of California’s landscape through color photographs. Readers may be surprised to discover that smog and congestion, as pictured in this volume, have disappeared from the Golden State.


Back Roads of California. By Earl Thollander. A Sunset Pictorial Book. Menlo Park, Ca., Lane Publishing Co., 1977. 208 pages. $5.95.

Earl Thollander presents sketches, rudimentary maps, and brief notes for readers who may wish to explore some of the State’s most interesting, but little known, country roads.


As the Padres Saw Them: California Indian Life and Customs as Reported by the Franciscan Missionaries, 1813-1815. Historical introduction, notes and translation by Maynard Geiger, O.F.M. Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Mission Archive Library, 1976. 170pages. $19.95.

Between 1813 and 1815 Franciscan missionaries at 18 existing California missions responded to 36 questions forwarded from Spain by the Secretary of the Department of Overseas Colonies. Rather than present each mission’s response separately, the translator has listed all answers together for each question. The responses provide valuable information on Indian ethnology and the attitude of the missionaries toward the Indians.


Recollections of the Flathead Mission. By Fr. Gregory Mengarini, S.J. Translated and edited by Gloria Ricci Lothrop. Glendale, Ca., The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1977. 256 pages. $16.95.

Gregory Mengarini was the administrative leader of the first Jesuit mission among the Flathead Indians in the 1840s. Gloria Lothrop provides an insightful and lengthy introduction to Mengarini’s recently discovered and valuable account of his work among the Indians.


Books and Authors of San Diego: A Check List. By John R. Adams, San Diego, San Diego State College Press, 1966. 250 pages. $7.95.

Although published over 10 years ago, this excellent bibliography has not received the attention it deserves. More than 4,000 books are listed by author and title. The check list cites over 1550 local residents of San Diego County who wrote books between 1763 and 1965. John Adams adds notes on those books that pertain to San Diego.


The California of George Gordon and the 1849 Sea Voyages of His California Association. By Albert Shumate. Glendale, Ca., The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1976. 271 pages. $9.50.

George Gordon, a prominent San Franciscan, is “rescued from the legend of Gertrude Atherton’s first novel” in this biography.


The Jewel of the Missions: A Documentary History of San Juan Capistrano. Compiled and edited by Msgr. Francis J. Weber. N.p., Libra Press Limited, 1976. 223 pages. $10.00.

Msgr. Weber provided 61 documents, from 1775 to 1975, that pertain to the history of the San Juan Capistrano Mission.


The Writings of Francisco García Diego Y Moreno. Translated and edited by Msgr. Francis J. Weber. Los Angeles, Libra Press Limited, 1976. 192 pages. $15.00.

This collection of writings of the Mexican-born Franciscan, Francisco García Diego (1785-1846), begins in Zacatecas in 1820 and ends in Santa Barbara in 1846. Father García Diego arrived in Alta California in 1833, and his records, particularly after his appointment as bishop in 1840, reveal the difficulties which he encountered during the period of secularization of the missions.


Thomas Yorba’s Santa Ana Viejo: 1769-1847. By Wayne Dell Gibson. With selected Spanish transcriptions and English translations by Lyle Probert Johnson. N.p., Santa Ana College Foundation Press, 1976. 328 pages. $12.00.

This is the story of the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, founded by the Yorbas and Peraltas in what is now Orange County.


I Married Wyatt Earp: The Recollections of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp. Collected and edited by Glenn G. Boyer. Tucson, The University of Arizona Press, 1976. 277 pages. $4.95, paper. $10.50, cloth.

A sympathetic recollection of life with Wyatt Earp which reveals as much about “Josie” as Wyatt.