The Saint Louis University Museum of Art, located on the campus of Saint Louis University, is pleased to present Crossing the Divide: Jesuits on the American Frontier.

Founded by Ignatius Loyola in the year 1534, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) concentrated their efforts on foreign missions, education, and scholarship. In the year 1823, a new generation of Jesuit missionaries arrived in St. Louis, Missouri. Like the Jesuit missionaries of old, these Jesuits were also keen observers of the people they encountered as well as the geography and ecology that differed so much from what they had known in Europe.

Crossing the Divide: Jesuits on the American Frontier contains extremely accurate documentation of the new world this group of Jesuits entered as they crossed cultural, linguistic, and religious divides. The exhibition displays dictionaries of Native-American languages; as well as extremely accurate maps and detailed journals. Of significant importance are the sketches and water colors of Nicolas Point, SJ, and the Moses Linton Album, a chronicle of the work and travels of Pierre De Smet, SJ. This album is on display for the first time.

The exhibition was made possible by loans from the Midwest Jesuit Archives, Missouri Historical Society, Campbell House Museum, Collection of Western Jesuit Missions at the Saint Louis University Museum of Art.

Financial support for Crossing the Divide: Jesuits on the American Frontier was made possible by the Marchetti Fund of Saint Louis University; the Beaumont Foundation Fund of the Historic Samuel Cupples House; and by benefactors who wish to remain anonymous.

You may learn more about the exhibit by visiting the website of the Saint Louis University Museum of Art.