Recopilacion de leyes de los reynos de las Indias, volume 2, 1774 (original publication)

The 23 pen and ink drawings in this collection were exhibited in Gallery II of the de Saisset Museum exhibit entitled, "Monica Rodriguez: Californiana," from September 23 to December 12, 2025. The drawings reference selected pages from 14 volumes contained in the Mission Library Collection, dating from 1630-1783 and include early, pre-1800 works on topics such as mathematics, science, dictionaries, the Spanish language, geography, natural history, history of California, Mexico, and Latin America; handbooks and manuals for priests; general administration; Spanish laws pertaining to Indigenous peoples; and pharmacology and medicine.

Spanning the years 1548-1835, the broader Mission Library Collection, brought to Mission Santa Clara by Franciscan padres, comprises theological texts including Bibles, breviaries, and devotional works in addition to encyclopedias and dictionaries on natural history, language, geography, and Indigenous people. In addition to producing an alternative archive, the trace of the artist’s hand and labor involved in creating the drawings provokes a critical distance resulting in a re-examination of the collection’s content and narratives (Source: adapted from de Saisset Museum web page for the exhibit).