The short answer to the original query is that there is no book or article 
I'm aware of that tries to pull together data concerning 19th century 
Catholic religious medallions in the Southwest or, for that matter, anywhere 
else.  Given the numbers of cemeteries now being dug up in the path of 
various kinds of "progress," I'm sure the grey literature -- to say nothing 
of unpulished manuscripts -- is replete with descriptions of many such 
objects.
    Analysis of these artifacts at the receiving end (i.e., where they ended 
up with a consumer) would be far less fruitful than an effort to chase down 
their manufacturing sources -- some, no doubt, in Italy..  It's not 
impossible that there were even catalogs of them just as there probably are 
today.  One might start by checking with a Catholic religious supply store 
where rosaries, books, statues, paintings, cross and crucifixes, etc. are 
sold and inquring about sources of their supply.  It could be that some of 
these companies have been in business for a couple hundresd years.
    Bunny Fontana


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron May" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 6:24 PM
Subject: Re: Religious pendants


>I know there is unpublished material on 19th century Catholic medallion
> pendants from the Royal Presidio de San Diego in California. The 
> collection is
> curated by the City of San Diego, Park & Recreation Department and I 
> understand
> there is a committee working with the collection. Some of Paul H.  Ezell's
> papers on the medallions might be at the San Diego Historical Society. 
> Also,
> the SHA in Baltimore had a number of people who were specialists in 
> religious
> medals, including a man whose name escapes me, but he worked for the
> Smithsonian Institution. I suggest you contact the Southwest Mission 
> Research  Center
> and Bunny Fontana.
>
> Just to add to this issue, underwater archaeologist Roy Pettus led a dive
> team in 1981 that recovered a Catholic medallion attached to a necklace 
> with
> olive wood beads in about 15-feet of water south of Ballast Point, San 
> Diego,
> California. The medallion was drawn and published by the Cabrillo 
> Historical
> Association, Cabrillo National Monument in 1982. I later learned the date 
> of
> "1830" on the medal refers to a miracle alleged to occur on that date and 
> does
> not actually date the age of the medallion. We were always suspect of the
> olive  wood surviving very long underwater.
>
> Ron May
> Legacy 106, Inc.
>
>
> In a message dated 5/10/2008 5:53:06 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
> Greetings all,
>
> I was wondering if anyone out there might know of  a
> good website or source materials for identifying 19th
> century  religious pendants, specifically
> mexican-american catholic pendants of the  American
> southwest.
>
> Best,
> Jeremy Pye
>
>
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