Vélez de Escalante, better known as Escalante, was a Spanish Franciscan missionary sent to New Mexico in 1774; he was the recorder of this 1776 expedition. Domínguez, a Mexican Franciscan priest, was his ecclesiastical superior and leader of the expedition. 

Collection includes an eighteenth-century copy of the diary kept by Vélez de Escalante on his expedition with Dominguez through the four corners area of the American Southwest, spanning July 29, 1776 to Jan. 2, 1777. Although unsuccessful in their mission to find a route from Santa Fe, NM, to Monterey, CA, their explorations added to the contemporary knowledge about Colorado, Utah and Arizona. The local inhabitants, as well as the natural features, are described in detail.