Research at the Archive
Education Materials
Here you'll find what teachers have asked SBMAL to provide: Video tours, preservation projects, and more! Video Tours include Old Mission Santa Barbara la Huerta's native plants garden and mother orchard, as well as a video about a friar at the Mission today.
Students, are you working on a Mission project for class? Email research@sbmal.org to gather materials to use in your project on any of Alta California's 21 missions!
A Mission Friar: What does a friar do at the Mission today?
RESTORE Mission Santa Barbara: A workbook for grades 3-5
La Huerta: Native Plants at Old Mission Santa Barbara
La Huerta: Mother Orchard at Old Mission Santa Barbara
California History from Home video series
These short videos provide you with a behind-the-scenes look at our collections and allow us to share the rich history and culture of our state. Join us and experience the treasures of Old Mission Santa Barbara and the Archive-Library from home!
*Please note that collection care and preservation guidelines change over time as we learn more about how best to care for the items in our collections. You may see staff wearing white gloves in these videos, but we typically no longer wear gloves when handling paper materials. For more on why, read this blog post from the British National Archives.
California Mission Paintings by Edwin Deakin
Rare Books Collection at SBMAL
Church Architecture at Mission Santa Barbara
1493 Bible
Sacred Garden at Mission Santa Barbara
1774 Antiphonarium
1789 Chumash Tabernacle
Santa Bárbara Mission Archive-Library Coloring Sheets
Teachers! Parents! Kids! Coloring enthusiasts! Download, print off, and color these unique images from our collections that we have turned into fun coloring sheets. Be sure to post your finished creation, tag us in it (@sbmissionarchive), and use the hashtag #museumfromhome. We can’t wait to see what you make!

Saint Barbara and Old Mission Santa Barbara Stained Glass Window from Mission Dolores Basilica
This beautiful stained glass window scene of Old Mission Santa Barbara with Saint Barbara looking on comes from Mission Dolores Basilica. Mission Dolores Basilica was built next door to Mission San Francisco de Asís in 1918. Thank you to two of our interns, Gary and Louise Matz, for taking this photo for us!
Saint Francis Antiphonarium Illumination
The picture of Saint Francis seen here comes from a 1774 antiphonarium from our music manuscript collection. An antiphonarium is a kind of choir book that contains music for the Divine Office. The book is a manuscript, which means it wasn’t printed. It was written out by hand.