Moses Lewis Linton served at Saint Louis University’s School of Medicine for nearly 30 years. There he met Jesuit Peter John De Smet, priest and missionary to Native Americans, and the two became close friends. After Linton received an album as a Christmas gift from a patient in 1850, De Smet began his work on it as a personal scrapbook for his friend.

The Moses Linton Album, numbering over 200 pages, chronicles De Smet’s work and travels from 1821 to 1871. The album principally consists of personal letters, verses of poetry, hymns and prayers, including De Smet’s collection of the Lord’s Prayer translated into 18 different Native American languages. Photographs, artwork, sketches, and maps illustrate the activities described in the text. Additionally, the album contains tributes and obituary notices for 14 Jesuits, all of whom were companions and friends of both De Smet and Linton.

A selection of the Moses Linton Album is in the portfolio of images. It provides an historical resource about the missionary activities of Jesuits in the Northwestern and Midwestern United States in the 1800s.

For more information on the Moses Linton Album please see The Doctor’s Scrapbook: A Collaboration of Linton and De Smet, written by the late Jesuit John J. Killoren.  This article is reprinted with permission from Gateway Heritage, Vol. 6, No.3, Fall/Winter, 1985-86.  Courtesy of the Missouri History Museum, St. Louis, Missouri.