The following selections illustrate aspects of the lives of Latin American Catholics in the U.S. throughout American History:

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-Sketches of travel in California from Caroline M. Churchill, 1881.  Pages 47-48 (in the section titled Bartlett's Springs) discuss the poor populations of the southwest going over to the Catholic Church and the author’s belief on why that is happening.

-Seventy-five years in California, by William Heath Davis, 1929.  Page 351 (in the appendix)  includes a quote from Queen Isabella’s will regarding the treatment of Indians in Spanish territories.

-Los Angeles in the sunny seventies, Ludwig Louis Salvator, 1929.  Page 130 (in chapter 24) mentions the mixed population of LA, the tolerance by all religions, and the predominance of Catholicism in the 1870’s there.

-Life on the plains and among the diggings, by A. Delano, 1857.  Pages 330-331 (in chapter XXII) discuss the “civilizing” affect the missions had on some Indians in the southern part of Upper California.

-California. Four months among the gold-finder, by Edwin Bryant, 1849.  Page 116 (in chapter XV) describes the devoutness of Californian Roman Catholics at the time, especially women.

-Letters from California: its mountains, valleys, by D.L. Phillips, 1877.  Page 156 (in Letter No. XIX) describes the state of the Catholic Church around 1876

-Account of Kateri (Catherine) Tekakwitha by Jesuit missionary (in French), 1887.  She lived in the 1600’s as a missionary in Canada, although originally she was a Native American from the U.S.  She recently was declared a saint in the church.  Unfortunately, while there are no English primary sources, this version on her life provides context in English.

-Archbishop Lamys Description of Catholic New Mexico, 1936.  Bishop Lamy was first appointed for the Santa Fe area, greater context can be found at this site.