Anza Expedition Talk at First Theater

Monterey, Calif.—To acknowledge the 250th anniversary of the Anza Expedition, Monterey State Historic Park is hosting a free talk about the journey titled “Outfitting the Expedition: The Dress and Equipment of the Anza Party 1775-1776” in California’s First Theater on April 15th at 6pm by acclaimed historian, illustrator and author David Rickman.

Between 1775 and 1776, Juan Bautista de Anza led an expedition of 240 settlers including women and children from New Spain, which is now Mexico, into California and up to San Francisco to establish a mission and a presidio. On March 10, 1776, the Anza Expedition arrived in Monterey on horseback, mule and foot before heading north. The whole 1,200-mile journey opened California up for Spanish colonization and is now commemorated by the National Park Service’s Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.

The talk will take a close look at what the expedition members wore, what they carried, and how they rode, based on original documents and images from the time. Rickman is the author of the Sutter’s Forst Costume Manual and the upcoming Where Worlds Met, a two-volume history of dress in California from 1822 to 1860 published by California State Parks.