In 1776 a conscIentious Franciscan friar set down a detailed description of the missions of the Custody of the Conversion of St. Paul of New Mexico as they appeared to his official and not uncritical eye. Fray Francisco Atanasio Domínguez was not the first, nor would he be the last, to record his impressions of New Mexico as viewed through the mirror of his own background and character. Explorers, mission aries, soldiers, frontiersmen, merchants, archaeologists, anthropologists, antiquarians, scientists, artists, men and women of letters—all these and more have felt impelled to share their personal reactions to this strange and beautiful land and the ways of life they found there. Some liked it; some did not. Some saw nothing but primitive and ignorant squalor; others' imagination endowed it with an aura of nostalgia for a romantic past that never was. Few, if any, have been equipped to see it impartially in all its dimensions. But love it or despise it, none have regarded the "Land of Enchantment" with indifference.

Although Father Domínguez obeyed his instructions as canonical visitor with scrupulous care, and also undertook an arduous journey of exploration in which the secular authorities had great interest, he received little credit for his efforts for nearly two hundred years. Then, in 1956, his "book in folio of what the missions contain, their directions, distances, etc." saw the light in English translation. It proved so useful to so many laborers in various disciplines that the Cultural Properties Review Committee of the State of New Mexico decided to seek funds for a kind of sequel, which would supplement Domínguez's account and bring the story of the 1776 missions up to date. Now, in 1979, John L. Kessell's carefully researched and informative volume is the happy result.

Perhaps some may be inclined to question the value of such compilations of data about building, ruination, repair, and rebuilding; of objects of veneration and commonplace items of humble household use. What we must remember is that these things, our forebears' furnishings and utensils, their shelters from the elements, the places where they carried on their affairs or worshipped their gods, their arts and crafts, the books they read—or the ideas transmitted by those who read them—give insights into the everyday lives of those who have long since gone hence which we can hardly obtain from any other source. This is indeed "living history," to be enjoyed by both professional and lay readers.

Fray Angelico Chavez and I are grateful to John L. Kessell for taking up the burden where we laid it down, and for his skill in producing as good and meticulous an account as did Fray Francisco Atanasio in 1776.

ELEANOR B. ADAMS

Copyright © 1980 by the University of New Mexico Press. All rights reserved. Material from this edition published for the Cultural Properties Review Committee by the University of New Mexico Press may not be reproduced in any manner without the written consent of the author and the University of New Mexico Press.