Archives

Archive of Primary Source Documents

The Web de Anza Archives contain ten primary source documents. That is, journals, diaries, and letters which are eyewitness accounts from the Spanish Colonial era. These sources are both available in transcriptions from the original Spanish and English translations.

The center piece of the archive is the Diary of Juan Bautista de Anzacompiled from records of his 1775-6 Colonizing Expedition to bring settlers from Sonora to San Francico Bay. Anza's account is supported by a large collection of definitions, explanations, identifications, maps, and pictures which you can access by clicking on words in the text and from indexes available from the Resources Page. You can also jump directly from any entry in Anza's Diary directly to entries for that same day written by either Father Pedro Font or Father Francisco Garcés, who accompanied Anza on the journey.

The other sources in the Archive provide background and supporting material helpful in understanding the Colonizing Expedition. Especially important to this is the account by Don Josef Joachin Moraga of the actual founding of the Presido at San Francisco.


Links to each of the primary source documents are below:

Portolá Expedition, 1769-70

Diaries
Miguel Costansó, July 14, 1769 - February 7, 1770 English Calendar Index   español Calendar Index
Gaspar de Portolá, May 11, 1769, to January 24, 1770 English        
Pedro Fages July 14, 1769 to January 24, 1770 English        

Anza Exploratory Expedition, 1774

Diaries
Juan Bautista de Anza, January 8 - May 27, 1774 English Calendar Index   español Calendar Index
Francisco Garcés, January 6 - July 10, 1774 English Calendar Index   español Calendar Index

Anza Colonizing Expedition, 1775-76

Diaries
Juan Bautista de Anza, October 23, 1775 - June 1, 1776 English Calendar Index   español Calendar Index
Pedro Font, September 28, 1775 - June 2, 1776 English Calendar Index   español Calendar Index
Pedro Font Expanded, September 28, 1775 - June 2, 1776 English Calendar Index   español Calendar Index
Francisco Garcés, October 21 - December 4, 1775 English Calendar Index   español Calendar Index
Letters
Juan Bautista de Anza to Viceroy Bucarelli, October 20, 1775 English        

Don Josef Joachín Moraga,
March 20, 1777: Account of the Founding of San Francisco

English     español  

Anza Comanche Campaign, 1779

Diaries
Juan Bautista de Anza, August 15 - September 10, 1779 English     español