Spain and the Birth of the United States: A California Conversation
Friday & Saturday, April 17 & 18, 2026
The Huntington
1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA
Stewart R. Smith Boardroom
Register to attend.
in partnership with
Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington, DC
Iberdrola
Queen Sofía Spanish Institute
Academic Program Committee
Emily Berquist, California State University, Long Beach
Manuel Lucena Giraldo, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid
Peter Mancall, University of Southern California & Director, EMSI
María Bárbara Zepeda Cortes, Lehigh University
Friday, April 17, 2026
Welcome
Sue Juster, Director of Research, Huntington Library
Peter Mancall, USC and Linda and Harlan Martens Director, EMSI
“A California Conversation about Spain and the Birth of the United States”
Rafael Orbegozo, Advisor to the Chairman’s Office, Iberdrola
“Unveiling Memories Project”
Session 1: Spain and the American Revolution on Land and Sea
“The contribution of Spain and Hispanics for the Independence: insights and perspectives”
“The Battle of the Atlantic. The Royal Navy of Spain in the American War of Independence.”
Session 2: Spanish California
“Alta California in the Age of Revolutions: From the Royal Donativo Gracioso to the Petitions of Pacifico Sunicamiol”
“Archaeology on the Edge of Empire: The Missions and Presidio Outposts of the Monterey Bay, 1770-1836”
Session 3: Urbanization and Infrastructure in Spanish North America and the United States
“Global Maps, Rancho Property, and the Estuary Commons: Hispanic Legacies in the Making of the Port of Los Angeles”
“Reform or disappear? Cities, missions, and presidios in the Spanish
Bourbon Monarchy”
Session 4: Music of Spain, Mexico, and California Missions
Thornton Baroque Sinfonia
Directed by Adam Knight Gilbert, USC, and Jason Yoshida, USC
Saturday, April 18, 2026
Session 5: Business, Trade, and Migration
“U.S. Commercial Strategies in Spanish Río de la Plata: Mobility, Neutrality, and Slavery in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions”
Session 6: Biographical Frontiers
“Spanish Founding Father? José de Gálvez’s U.S. Legacy, from California to Pensacola (1768–1781)”
“Francisco de Saavedra: A Man Whose Influence was Key in the Independence of the United States”
Emily Berquist, California State University, Long Beach
Moderator
“Conversatorio” and Final Remarks
Image Credit: Louis K. Harlow, Priest walking in courtyard of a California mission, c. 1895. Lithograph. © Courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. San Marino, California.
This event is free and open to the public.
Register to attend.
