Stamp to be issued in 2012

The U.S. Postal Service will honor nearly 250 years of California history with the issuance of the Carmel Mission express mail stamp, and a CSU Monterey Bay professor played a role in it.

Archaeologist Ruben Mendoza served as an adviser and resource consultant on the stamp. He worked on the narrative that will accompany it, as well as details of the design.

“I was called upon to address questions ranging from the colors of features depicted in the stamp to the details and textures of pavements, architectural elevations, shadows, wall heights and roof pitch,” he said.

“Even the turquoise coloring of the bronze marker and the placement of the palm trees fronting the church façade were aspects of my inquiry.”

The work entailed visits to the mission to collect information and take photos – Dr. Mendoza is an award-winning photographer. He also provided historical images for the artists to use as reference.

Often described as one of the most beautiful mission churches in the state, Carmel Mission is known for its dome-shaped bell tower and elaborate star-shaped window.

Formally known as Mission San Carlos Borroméo del Río Carmelo, Carmel Mission was founded on June 3, 1770. It was the second in what would become a chain of 21 Spanish missions along the coast of California, each positioned about one day’s ride on horseback from the next. Father Junípero Serra (1713-1784), the founder of the California mission system, is buried there.

The research and artwork were done last spring, but the design wasn’t made public until December.

“I was quite honored to have been asked to serve as the consultant for this important addition to the philatelic heritage of the United States,” Dr. Mendoza said.

He's the right person for the job.

Dr. Mendoza has studied California’s missions for years and has done archaeological work at many of them, including those in Carmel, San Juan Bautista, Soledad and San Miguel. He is a charter board member of the California Missions Foundation and one of only a handful of mission archaeology and conservation specialists in California. Each spring, he teaches a class in mission archaeology. It fills quickly.

Asked to name the most significant work he’s done, he doesn’t hesitate.

“Discovering the Serra chapels at the Royal Presidio of Monterey,” he said. He’s referring to the discoveries in the summer of 2008 of the “first” and “second” chapels, each consisting of rectangular adobe buildings located directly in front of the present San Carlos Cathedral. The area marks the spot were, in 1770, Father Serra celebrated the earliest Mass in a formally constructed church on the California coast.

Digging into the missions’ past is more than an academic exercise or teaching tool for Dr. Mendoza. He believes that knowing what went on there helps us understand who we are today, and how California became what it is.

To read more about Dr. Mendoza, click here. To learn more about the archaeology program at CSUMB, click here. DID YOU KNOW? • The express mail stamp will cost $18.95. • It’s not the first time the Carmel Mission has been featured on a stamp. A depiction of the mission’s bells was featured on a first-class stamp in 1969, to commemorate the bicentennial of the settlement of California. The cost: six cents.