Digital Library

A Tradition of Cross-Border Collaboration and Resource Sharing

National Park Service | Patronato San Xavier | Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia | Univeristy of Arizona

Since 1994, hands-on TICRAT workshops have convened adobe experts from the US and Mexico to disseminate traditional earthen building practices and ensure the safeguarding of the integrated cultural heritage across the border.

Experts from the National Park Service and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia were brought together to demonstrate traditional earthen building practices at historic mission sites within the southwest. 

Through demonstrations, tours, presentations, and seminars, this virtual library provides lasting documentation of traditional knowledge long-used in the preservation of earthen architecture.

Now, the Missions Initiative is making this digital library available to the public for the first time.

Program Resources

Missions Initiative is proud to offer the following educational resources on traditional earthen preservation skills, organized around a set of key topics. The resources include bilingual videos of hands-on demonstrations, presentations, tours, and case studies by international experts from the 2008 TICRAT (Taller Internacional de Conservación y Restauración de Arquitectura de Tierra) as well as videos from the 2021 SICRAT (Seminario Internacional de Conservación y Restauración de Arquitectura de Tierra).

Adobe Brick Making

Click on the image below to access each presentation on YouTube.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Adobe Brick Making

By: Jim Garrison, David Yubeta, Pedro Tanori, and Abby Valenzuela

 

Adobe Characteristics

Click on the image below to access each presentation on YouTube, or download a copy of select presentations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Adobe Soil Sourcing

By: Venardo Velazquez and Jupiter Martinez Ramirez

 

Adobe: The Material, Its Deterioration, Its Coatings

By: James Garrison

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

Adobe Waterproofing

Click on the image below to access each presentation on YouTube.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Adobe Waterproofing

By: Antonio Guerrero and Robert Vint

 

Case Studies

Click on the image below to access each presentation on YouTube, or download a copy of select presentations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Case Study: Socorro Mission

By: Pat Taylor and Francisco Javier Soria Lopez

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Case Study: Las Misiones Coloniales en Chihuahua y su Conservación

By: Antonia Guerrero and Francisco Javier Soria Lopez

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Case Study: Mission San Ignacio

By: Abby Valenzuela

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Case Study: Restoration of Mission of our Lady of Pilar and Santiago of Cocospera

By: Abby Valenzuela and Francisco Javier Soria Lopez

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Case Study: Current issues in Conservation of Earthen Architecture in Sonora

By: Omar Jara Dominguez

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Case Study: Mission San Xavier del Bac

By: Robert Vint

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Condition Assessment

Click on the image below to access each presentation on YouTube, or download a copy of select presentations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Documentation and Assessment Programs

By: Geremy Moss and Franciso Javier Soria Lopez

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Repair and Maintenance of Earthen Architecture
Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Understanding Deterioration Mechanism in Earthen Architecture

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Adobe Building Evaluation

By: Antonio Guerrero and Robert Vint

Discussions

Click on the image below to access the presentation on YouTube.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Roundtable Discussion

By: Brooks Jeffery

Lime Plaster

Click on the image below to access each presentation on YouTube, or download a copy of select presentations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Lime Plaster Maintenance

By: Pat Taylor and Francisco Javier Soria Lopez

 

Slacking Lime

By: Abby Valenzuela, David Yubeta, and Pedro Tanori

 

Lime Plaster Applications

By: Pat Taylor and Francisco Javier Soria Lopez

The Use of Lime in the Preservation of our Built Heritage

By: Francisco Javier Soria Lopez

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

Materials

Click on the image below to access each presentation on YouTube, or download a copy of select presentations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

Soils and Materials Conservation


Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Preserving and Maintaining Earthen Mortar

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

 

Site Management

Click on the image below to access the presentation on YouTube, or download a copy of the presentations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Management Priorities

Download a Copy of the Presentation Here!

Virtual Tours

Click on the image below to access each presentation on YouTube.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Tour: Mission Tumacacori – Exterior

By: Antonio Guerrero and Eduardo Gamboa Carera

mission church with wet sidewalk

 

Tour: Mission Tumacacmori – Interior

By: David Yubeta

long nave with arched opening to sanctuary and flowered cross on an altar

 

Tour: Immaculate Conception of our Lady of Caborca

By: Gloria Elena Santini

La Purísima Concepción de Nuestra Señora de Caborca Mission

 

Tour: San Diego Pitiquito

By: Padre Claudio Alonso Murrieta Ortiz, Abby Valenzuela, and Robert Vint

white-washed adobe church

 

Tour: Mission San Xavier del Bac

By: Robert Vint