French and Spanish Missions in North America
John Corrigan and Tracy Leavelle, with Arthur Remillard

A Note on Sources

Identifying mission locations proved one of the most challenging tasks in this project. The process involved intensive analysis of mission sources such as the well known Jesuit Relations, careful readings of secondary literature in such disciplines as history and archaeology, and consultation of numerous maps, both historical and contemporary. Still, the precise location of many missions remains unknown. Surviving sources are fragmentary and do not always provide complete information about the location of certain missions. Sometimes missions moved and the evidence about the old and new sites is unclear. Modern scholars frequently present competing conclusions about mission locations based on their research. Nevertheless, the scholars involved in this project have made every effort to plot mission sites as accurately as possible.

Attribute data comes primarily from the work of the many scholars who have studied the missions and the Native peoples of North America, supplemented by our own reading of sources such as the Relations and similar collections. These primary and secondary sources provided relevant details regarding trade networks, baptisms, epidemics, Native populations, and dates. We also consulted internet sources. For example, many of the Spanish missions are now state parks or individual parishes that have their own web sites (listed at: http://www.ecai.org/na-missions/docs/missionlinks.htm). A number of these sites have histories of the mission that helped us conform, clarify, and/or corroborate data we had already collected. The material listed in the bibliography provides information on individual missionaries, Native communities, demographic history, and much more.

John Corrigan
Tracy Leavelle

Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative

Copyright © John Corrigan, Tracy Leavelle
December 2005

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