Missions Initiative

The Missions Initiative has a new website that is published in both English and Spanish. You may like watching many of the videos from the November 2008 TICRAT AZ | SON, International Workshop on the Conservation and Restoration of Earthen Architecture Arizona|Sonora. Specialists in the areas of traditional earthen building skills, preservation and conservation from the United States and Mexico presented sessions on adobe and adobe coatings, documentation, conservation, restoration and preservation. The videos are streaming so you won't need to download them (large file sizes) but you will need a highspeed Internet connection and fairly recent computer to display the video without it breaking up on the screen.

Missions Initiative Goals

Conceived at the start of the 21st century, the Missions Initiative guides the development of an international, multidisciplinary partnership for cultural resource management. The Missions Initiative involves hundreds of Spanish Colonial Mission sites in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Representatives from the United States National Park Service (NPS) and the Mexico Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) are collaborating to protect cultural resources and promote heritage tourism through the re-establishment of historic links among Spanish Colonial missions. The initiative has already begun to foster cooperation among independent research organizations, academic institutions, non-profit agencies, ecclesiastic authorities, and partners in federal, state, and local governments.