Mission Sensoriums: Sounds, Silences, and Vestiges of the Mission Bell in California

This paper examines the mission bell in California as an aural and visual instrument of colonization: from the crucial role of church bells and their sounds at the California missions during the Spanish and Mexican periods, to the processes that shaped the El Camino Real Bell Marker as an enduring presence in California tourism, and the Raincross Bell as emblematic of the business ventures booster-entrepreneur Frank A. Miller in the City of Riverside. I will argue that these historical developments transformed the mission bell into a Native Californian symbol of struggle and reckoning.