Missions Initiative
The Missions Initiative is a collaboration between the National Park Service's Vanishing Treasures Program, the University of Arizona, and San Xavier del Bac Mission.
About
Conceived at the start of the 21st century, the Missions Initiative guides the development of an international, multidisciplinary partnership for cultural resource management. Missions across the southwestern United States and northern Mexico transcend jurisdictional boundaries, such as national parks, state parks, tribal lands, and private ecclesiastic properties. Individual mission site managers, regardless of institutional affiliation, share a common goal in the protection and stewardship of mission sites and they can learn much from the conservation practices of allied institutions, agencies, and governments.
Spanish Colonial missions represent a unique type of heritage resource. There is great value in building a network of heritage scholars, historic and traditional trades workers, site managers, educators and interpreters, descendent communities, and other associated professionals who work with them. Missions Initiative seeks to offer resources and make connections across sites to improve a mutual understanding of best practice, promote the use of traditional materials and methods, and help make connections between site managers and resources. M.I.’s goal is to serve as a resource and information clearing house. We will continue to identify and develop best practices guidelines, case studies, and workshops that address these needs and move the conversation forward.
Why Missions
- Mission sites are inherently complex, representing a diverse range of heritage values that may overlap, reinforce, and conflict with one another.
- Each tends to hold deep meaning for varied user groups.
- They may be intimate sites of great local significance while they are also adopted as symbols of a larger regional identity.
- Many sites hold both tangible and intangible heritage.
- Often, these sites are connected to indigenous and/or descendant communities.
- These sites exist within broader cultural landscapes that may be considered at various scales.
- They may represent blending of traditional and indigenous architectural techniques, materials and methods, and decoration.
- Many are “living sites” or places that have been in continuous use.
Ongoing Projects
- TICRAT is a bi-national partnership between the U.S. National Park Service and Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Since 1994, these hands-on workshops have convened adobe experts from both countries to disseminate traditional earthen building practices and safeguard the integrated cultural heritage across the US-Mexico border.
- Survey of Spanish Colonial Mission Sites throughout Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas, working to understand the most pressing challenges facing the conservation and restoration of these sites.
- Dissemination of best practices in conservation through case studies, global literature reviews, and documentation of conservation practices at other mission sites.
TICRAT | Arizona 2026
TICRAT | Arizona 2026 will take place from Monday, March 16 – Friday, March 20th at Tumacácori National Historical Park and San Xavier del Bac Mission. For more information, and to register for the session, please follow the link below.