author
Maria Antonia Field
b. 1885
A lifelong Monterey resident and descendant of one of California’s early Spanish families, Maria Antonia Field turned her deep connection to the region into books about its missions, heritage, and cultural history. She also preserved her experience as a voice student in a memoir about the celebrated teacher Fernando Michelena.
1 Audiobook
Chimes of Mission Bells; an historical sketch of California and her missions
by Maria Antonia Field
About the author
Maria Antonia Field was born in Monterey, California, in 1885. She was the great-granddaughter of Esteban Munras and the last member of the Munras family to live in Monterey’s Casa Munras, where she remained until 1941. Known locally as “California’s Princess,” she never married and died in 1962.
Field wrote about the Spanish and Mexican roots of California, drawing on family tradition, mission archives, and her personal knowledge of Monterey. Her best-known historical work, Chimes of Mission Bells: An Historical Sketch of California and Her Missions, reflects her admiration for the state’s early Spanish missionaries and mission communities.
Her interests also extended to music. In Five Years of Vocal Study under Fernando Michelena, published privately in 1922, she described her training with the San Francisco vocal teacher and recorded lessons that shaped her understanding of singing, voice, and performance.