Highsmith, Carol M. Mission San Buenaventura, Ventura, California. 2012. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013631959/
Students begin by noting the mission’s central façade, bell tower, and lush landscaping. In pairs, they consider how these architectural features communicate spiritual influence, community identity, and colonial presence. Next, they read María Helena Viramontes’s short story “The Moths,” which explores themes of family, cultural heritage, and transformation. Students write a reflective response analyzing how physical spaces (the mission) and emotional spaces (Viramontes’s narrative) both serve as sites for education, memory, and personal growth.
Mission San Buenaventura was founded on March 31, 1782, by Father Junípero Serra, the ninth and last mission established by him personally in Alta California. Situated within the traditional Chumash village of Mitsquanaqa’n, the mission became a center for religious instruction, agriculture, and craftsmanship. By the early 19th century, an intricate aqueduct system built by Chumash laborers provided water to the mission’s orchards and gardens, sustaining its agricultural productivity.
Source: https://www.sanbuenaventuramission.org/history
Teacher’s Overarching Question:
What does the architecture of Mission San Buenaventura reveal about its historical purpose and cultural influence?
Supporting Questions:
- How do the mission’s design elements—such as the façade, bell tower, and landscaping—communicate ideas of authority, faith, or community identity?
- In what ways might the image idealize or omit aspects of the mission’s history?
- How could the photo’s visual framing influence a viewer’s understanding of the mission’s role in the community?
Extension Question:
If you were tasked with photographing this mission today for a history textbook, what choices would you make to create a fuller and more inclusive narrative?
ELA Standard
RI.11–12.7. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media to address a question or solve a problem.
Social Studies Standard
HSS Standard 11.1.3. Understand the roles of religion and ideology in shaping national institutions and values.
NCTE Standard 2
Read a wide range of literature across periods and genres to deepen understanding of human experience.
- Start by guiding students through a visual analysis of Mission San Buenaventura. Prompt them to identify architectural components—façade layout, courtyard, bell tower—and question how these elements frame missions as places of authority, faith, and community. Provide concise context about the mission’s establishment by Junípero Serra in 1782, its work with the Chumash people, and its role in education and agriculture (see The Library of Congress).
- Introduce María Helena Viramontes’s “The Moths.” Before reading, preview key questions for discussion:
- How do Viramontes’s symbols (e.g., the moths) reflect personal journeys of learning or transformation?
- In what ways do the mission and the story converge on themes of empowerment or loss?
- How might modern sites of learning or worship serve similar purposes of personal transformation or community identity?
- Ask students to annotate the story for symbolic imagery—especially moths, familial guidance, and rites of passage. In small groups, students connect these literary symbols to visual clues in the mission photo that represent learning, spiritual growth, or cultural transmission.
- For writing, students draft an analytical paragraph that synthesizes their observations: How do the visual and literary texts inform each other on themes of transformation? Have students support their ideas with both image details and text quotes.
- To extend learning, students identify a modern institution (e.g., school, community center, library) and compare its structure and purpose with those of the mission. They write a brief reflection on how physical design and community function shape collective narratives.
Highsmith, Carol M. Mission San Miguel Arcángel is a Spanish mission in San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County, California. 2012. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013633483/.
Highsmith, Carol M. La Purísima Mission, Lompoc, California. 2012. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013632530/.