MS 1082 Mission San Antonio prayer and song board
odd: label: Local Numbers
content: NAA MS 1082

NAA INV 09067000
label: Exhibitions Note
content: The prayer board was on exhibit in the Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History) in the "Hall of Every Day Life in the American Past," in a special section entitled "Character of the Old West."

The prayer board was used in hearings before the Senate and House appropriation sub-committees in March 1973 to demonstrate the benefits realized from the modest increases in funds provided by the Congress in recent years to the National Museum of Natural History for additional personnel and resources to support the work of scientific staff.
label: Publication Note
content: The prayer board is discussed in detail in:

Ahlborn, Richard E. "The Mission San Antonio Prayer and Song Board." Southern California Quarterly 74, no. 1 (1992): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.2307/41171606.
name: label: Creator
content: Cabot, Pedro, 1777-1836
label: Creator
content: Sancho, Juan Bautista, 1772-1830
label: Names
content: San Antonio de Pádua (Mission)
place: label: Place
content: North America
label: Place
content: California
topic: label: Topic
content: Language and languages -- Documentation
creator: label: Creator
content: Cabot, Pedro, 1777-1836
label: Creator
content: Sancho, Juan Bautista, 1772-1830
culture: label: Culture
content: Salinan -- San Antonio
bioghist: label: Historical Note
content: Mission San Antonio was founded fifty miles south of Monterey, California by Father Junipero Serra on July 14, 1771. In 1804, Fr. Padro Cabot and Fr. Juan Bautista Sancho joined the mission.

Prayer boards were used at California missions by Franciscans for teaching indigenous communities the basic elements of Roman Catholic practice and belief through standardized prayers and traditional songs. The boards were designed to be carried, hung up, or inserted in a hymnal stand.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Item (ink on paper mounted on wood board, 8.5 x 16.75 inches)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1817
container: label: Container
content: Box 1082
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: The collection was donated to the Smithsonian Institution by Alexander S. Taylor circa 1860.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.MS1082
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Works of art
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Works of art
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of a wooden prayer and song board.  There are prayers and songs (with musical notation) written in the Salinan language, Spanish, and Latin.  The front of the board is divided into upper and lower sections.  The upper section contains  "Acto breve de caridad y contricion" (Brief Act of Charity and Prayer) and "Breve oracion" (Brief Prayer) in Spanish and Salinan. The lower section contains Latin text with musical notations for two antiphons, "Asperges Me" and "Vidi Aquam," and includes detailed instructions to the priest. The reverse of the board contains "Acto de fe" (Act of Faith), "Acto de esperanza" (Act of Hope), and "Acto de caridad, o de amor, y dolor" (Act of Charity, or Love and Sorrow) in Spanish and Salinan. 

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.