As with most, if not all, of the historic California Missions, Old Missions Santa Inés has an archive that preserves and conserves items of historical value. These items include baptisms, confirmations, first communions, marriages, and burial records dating back, in most cases, to the beginning of the Mission in 1804. There are some gaps in the records and some are faded and hard to read.
In addition, artifacts, art, old correspondence files, vestments, newspaper articles and obituaries, information on priests who served here, maps, blueprints, and many ephemeral items are also preserved in the archive. The archive has software that is currently being used to document items in the archive, museum, graveyard, and church.
Due to its location, the archive is not open to the public so any research requests have to be done by the archivist and/or archive volunteers. The contact hours are Tuesday, 9 AM - 2:30 PM, Thursday, 9 AM - Noon and by appointment. There is a small research fee plus if the information requested is found, there is a fee for each document requested.
For further information, contact the Parish Office, 805-688-4815, during the hours listed above or you can leave a voice mail message detailing the reason for the call. You can also send a message to office@missionsantaines.org.