The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Winter 1984, Volume 30, Number 1
Thomas L. Scharf, Managing Editor
Book Notes
Raymond Starr, Book Review Editor
The Precursor’s Mission: A Documentary History of San Juan Bautista. Compiled and Edited by Francis J. Weber. Hong Kong: Libra Press Limited, 1983. 227 pages. $16.00.
This thirteenth volume of the series by the Archivist for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on the California Missions is about the fifteenth mission established, San Juan Bautista. Following his already established pattern, Weber has told the story of the mission with selection from a variety of “documents,” including some official records and letters, journalistic accounts, travel literature and anecdotal material. Most of the material is descriptive and much of it is repetitious. With inadequate documentation and little editorial apparatus, the book, like the others in the series, may please the general reader but does not meet the needs of the scholar.
