The Spanish Missionaries Pick Up the Pieces

A solid study of how Spanish missionaries reacted after the Pueblo Revolt and how it influenced their actions going forward.

After the Spanish reconquest, Missionaries were fearful of another rebellion due to the Pueblo revolt having been so devastating. As a result there was a lot less enthusiasm for trying to destroy existing Pueblo religious practices. There were several weak attempts to restore lost missions, but these were not very well supported by the royals. The feelings of Natives towards Spanish missionaries were very bitter, this and the now timid attitude of Spanish missionaries after the revolt arguably gave the English a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation. This resulted in them numerous attempts to offer ‘protection’ from the Spanish.

Primary Sources

1. Hackett, Charles Wilson. Revolt of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and OtermiÌn's Attempted Reconquest: 1680 - 1682. Vol. 8. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico Pr, 1970. Print.
   
   To make sense of the changes in attitude over time, it is also important to understand the previously held viewpoints and thoughts of those involved. This source contains numerous versions of both Spanish and Indian accounts of the pueblo revolt as well as documents by Spanish leader Don Antonio de Otermín as he attempted to make sense of the events occurring at the time. This source was found looking through the public library’s directory searching using the key term “pueblo revolt”.

2. Cushing, Frank Hamilton, and Jesse Green. ZunÌ: Selected Writings of Frank Hamilton Cushing. Lincoln: U of Nebraska, 1981. Print.
   
           Frank Hamilton Cushing stayed at a Zuni pueblo from 1879 to 1884, and is accredited as the first anthropologist to live with his subjects. There is an important chapter within this first-person account entitled “Zuni and the Missionaries: Keeping the Old Ways”, in which the author recounts a conversation about the Zuni’s attitude towards the Spanish missionaries and their teachings and his reaction to it. The attitude of the Natives about the Spanish is key in finding out how the Missionaries reacted after the pueblo revolt as evidence for backing up or contrasting against Spanish accounts, as the truth in each other’s perception of each other is probably somewhere in the middle. This was a book leant to me from Maggie Duval (er… my mother), from her collection of books on New Mexico history.

3. Weber, David J. Foreigners in Their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican Americans. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico, 2003. Print.
   
   This book recounts Spanish history, but contains dozens of first person accounts before and after the time and location I am concerned with. It offers an important perspective on Spanish views about the events before and after the revolt as well as their view of natives. This source was found in the public library directory in a search about Spanish missionaries.

Secondary Sources

4. Weber, David J. The Spanish Frontier in North America. New Haven: Yale UP, 1992. Print.
   
   This book is a very detailed account of the Spanish impact on the lives of Natives and includes amazing details about the Spanish missions. It is very thorough on the events during and after the pueblo revolt. It is very heavily cited with a section of notes that takes up most of the second half of the book.
   
5. Roberts, David. The Pueblo Revolt: The Secret Rebellion That Drove the Spaniards Out of the Southwest. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005. Print.
   
   This book is a historical record with descriptive language that points out biases in the Spanish documents that still survives to this day. The author presents a lot of information and uses many maps to his advantage.
   
6. Silverberg, Robert. The Pueblo Revolt. Lincoln: U of Nebraska, 1994. Print.
   
   This is another study and account of the Pueblo revolt; its use here is mainly to back up the accounts of other sources with the unique writing and research of another author to check for biases of other writings.
   
7. "Texas Almanac - The Source For All Things Texan Since 1857." Fate of Spanish Mission Changed Face of West Texas | Texas Almanac. Texas State Historical Association, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
   

This citation is more about Texas history and how the missions and revolt influenced it’s development, but it has some important information about Spanish procedures after the revolt that have some use as a ‘back up source’.

8. *"Palace of the Governors--American Latino Heritage: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/american_latino_heritage/Palace_of_the_Governors.html

This is a sort of “half” resource, It’s mostly just a little tidbit about the Palace of the Governors, the oldest surviving European structure in North America. It’s a ‘half’ resource because it’s interesting, but there isn’t much about the revolt or the missionaries to support this paper, however it’s worth a mention

Figure 1. A Spanish missionary striking a pose to show off his fashionable new robes + Bible (probably)

Figure 2. Present day Taos, NM Pueblo

Figure 3. San Geronimo de los Taos Mission, New Mexico

Prepared by Hunter Tripp