Juan Bautista de Anza papers documenting expeditions from Arizona to California, 1737-1775.

0.21 linear feet (1 box)

Spanish

Purchased from Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps, Inc. on the Frederick W. and Carrie S. Beinecke Fund for Western Americana, 2014.

This material is open for research.

Juan Bautista de Anza (1736-1788) was born in Fronteras, Sonora, Mexico. His father, Juan Bautista de Anza (1693-1740), was the captain of the Presidio of Santa Rosa de Coro de Gauche. Juan Bautista de Anza (1736-1788) served as the captain of the Presidio of Tubac before leading expeditions in 1774 and 1776 to Alta California from Arizona, which was previously considered geographically unfeasible. On Anza's second expedition, he recommended sites for settlement where the San José and San Francisco missions were later founded. Anza served as governor of the Spanish province of New Mexico from 1777 to 1787.

Fifteen manuscript letters and documents created during or regarding two expeditions led by Juan Bautista de Anza to Alta California in 1774 and 1776. The papers are contemporary manuscript copies, signed by Anza and other authors and notarized by the vice-regal secretary in Mexico City. Letters, most to Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, include Anza's proposal to lead his first expedition in 1772; descriptions of travel conditions and Yuma Indians encountered during the first expedition, written from the banks of the Colorado River; and the provisioning of his second expedition in 1774. Letters by Anza's supporters and expedition members, including Miguel Costansó and José Antonio de Areche, are also present. Also includes two 1737 letters by Juan Bautista de Anza's father, Juan Bautista de Anza, proposing an expedition to the lower Colorado River and a memorandum, 1775, created by Juan José Echeveste regarding the supplies needed for Anza's second expedition.

Anza's California Expeditions, edited by Herbert Eugene Bolton. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1930.

February 04, 2016

Juan Bautista de Anza Papers Documenting Expeditions from Arizona to California. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Juan Bautista de Anza Papers Documenting Expeditions from Arizona to California. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Explorers California 18th century.