Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-1-2025
Publisher
UC Press
Abstract
Tens of thousands of Native individuals perished in California’s twenty-one Franciscan missions that operated from the 1760s into the 1840s, but most public interpretive programs gloss over their lives and the cemeteries where they are interred. This has historically been the case at Mission Santa Clara, on the campus of Santa Clara University. In this article, we reflect on the process of co-creating an interactive memorial designed to honor the Native people buried in two colonial-era cemeteries related to the mission and link their lives to the descendant community today. Importantly, the co-creation process helped strengthen relationships in numerous directions, furthering the work of both commemoration and reconciliation.
Recommended Citation
Panich, L. M., Lueck, A. J., Baines, L., & Gomez, I. ‘Amne. (2025). We Are Here Because of ThemCo-Creating a Native Cemetery Memorial at Mission Santa Clara. The Public Historian, 47(4), 91–111. https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2025.47.4.91
Comments
© 2025 by The Regents of the University of California and the National Council on Public History. Reprinted with permission.