Jim Sandos

Current Research

I am currently at work on a book-length study of choirs and choristers in the California Missions. I am an expert on the history of the California Missions, having published twenty articles and a book on the subject.

Background Highlights

I was invited in 2000 to participate in an international trans-borderlands symposium on the subject of social control on New Spain’s far northern frontier. The historical region extended from Florida in the east to California in the west and from New Mexico in the north to just above Zacatecas, Mexico in the south. I was asked to write on California. Women and men from Spain, Mexico, and the U.S. were invited to prepare papers on their geographic area of expertise and to exchange ideas in two conferences. The first one held in late September 2001 at the University of California at San Diego sought to move paper drafts into intensive face to face criticisms and to elicit comparative themes across the borderlands. The second get together was at a public conference at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas in April 2002 where the polished products of our labors were shared with a wider audience. The results of that symposium were published in a book by the University of New Mexico press.

Courses Offered at Redlands

• California Indian Seminar
• History of California
• Images of the American West in Film, History, and Art
• Slavery and Race Relations in the Americas, A Comparative History
• History of America in Vietnam
• Latin American Civilization
• History of Wine
• Mexican Migration to the United States

Degrees Held

• PhD, History, University of California at Berkeley, 1978
• MA, History, Fresno State College, 1968
• BA, History, Fresno State College, 1966

Previous Teaching Experience

University of California at San Diego, 1979-1981
University of California at Berkeley, 1978-1979

Professional Experience

Intelligence Officer, U.S. Air Force, 1968-1972

Awards and Honors

• Rupert and Jeannette Costo award for Outstanding Contributions to Native American History, University of California at Riverside, March 22, 2009
• Fellow, Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1999-2000
• Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Human Rights in America award for Outstanding Book on the subject of Human Rights in North America, 1994-1995, for "The Hunt for Willie Boy." Sponsoring Organizations: B'nai B'rith, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Free Inquiry, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Conference of Christians and Jews, National Interreligious Commission on Civil Rights, National Organization for Women, National Urban League, Parents and Families for Lesbians and Gays, Project Censored, and Unitarian Universalist Association
• John Randolph and Dora Haynes Fellow, Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1994-1995
• Columbian Quincentennial Fellowship, 1991-1992, awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
• Robert L. Morlan Award for Faculty Excellence, 1990, including election to Phi Beta Kappa, by the Xi of California Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, University of Redlands
• Hubert B. Herring Memorial Prize for Best Article published in 1988, for "Junípero Serra's Canonization and the Historical Record," awarded by the Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies (PCCLAS)
• University of Redlands Personnel Committee Merit Award for Outstanding Teaching, 1983-1984 for Teaching Innovation, 1997-1998 (introducing Bibliographic Instruction in my courses), joint with Librarian Bill Kennedy
• University of Redlands Personnel Committee Merit Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work:
  • 1982-1983, for body of scholarship including the book "Across the Border: Rural Development in Mexico and Recent Migration to the United States" (1981)
  • 1992-1993, for body of scholarship since the previous award including the book "Rebellion in the Borderlands: Anarchism and the Plan of San Diego," 1904-1923 (1992)
  • 1996-1997, for body of scholarship since the previous award including the book "The Hunt for Willie Boy: Indian-hating and Popular Culture" (1994)
  • 2003-2004, for body of scholarship since the previous award including the book "Converting California: Indians and Franciscans in the Missions" (2004)