Junípero Serra Museum, Why is it Here, and What Does it Teach Us?
The Junípero Serra Museum was inaugurated in San Diego in July of 1929 to honor its Spanish and Christian heritage and to inspire and remind San Diegans to value their own history. The museum was founded by local merchant and preservationist George Marston, and built in the Mission Style on the approximate site of the original San Diego Mission, the first of Alta California’s 21 missions, which was burned by Indians and rebuilt further east of this site. The purpose of this lesson is to consider how history and historical memory interact, the purpose of museums in the preservation and/or creation of history, and how to study history authentically, considering point of view, context, purpose, and who is marginalized in the telling. This lesson is designed for 8th grade, but could easily be applied to high school or beyond. Students will visit the museum and the nearby archaeological site, and study several primary sources from the mission era and the period during which the museum was constructed, in addition to secondary sources.