• The churches of San Antonio were the heart of the Spanish colonal mission communities.

    San Antonio Missions

    National Historical Park Texas

Bookstore

wnpalogo
The Spanish Colonial Bookstore has one of the best collection of books dealing with Spanish, Mexican, and Texas history. There are two bookstores located at Mission San José, one of which handles mail and phone orders. The other three missions have small sales outlets in their information centers.

These bookstores are operated by Western National Parks Association, a non-profit organization authorized by Congress to assist the National Park Service in the support of educational and scientific research projects.

Click here for the home page of Western National Parks Association.
 

For the reading recommendations of the Park Rangers on Spanish Colonial and mission history, please follow the links below.

For kids and educators

General audiences

  • Book selections for adult readers Book selections for adult readers

    Book selections for adult readers Read More

  • Books for Children Books for Children

    of all ages Read More

Did You Know?

Ruins of a home at Mission Espada

that Spanish missions were not churches? They were Indian towns, with the church as the focus, where, in the 1700s, the native people were learning to become Spanish citizens. In order to become a citizen, they had to be Catholic; that is why the King of Spain sent missionaries to acculturate them.