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Renovated Archives Holds Records for Four Jesuit Provinces
The newly enlarged and renovated Midwest Jesuit Archives, 4511 West Pine Blvd. in the Central West End, now is open. In August of 1996 the Jesuits of four provinces - Chicago, Detroit, Missouri and Wisconsin - decided to combine efforts to preserve their archival records in one location.
From November 1996 to August 1997, work progressed on the building previously used only by the Missouri Province Archives. The combined Midwest Jesuit Archives occupies a 2,000-square-foot area that includes a spacious room to process materials. Temperature and humidity controls, firewalls and a chemical-based dry fire suppressant system provide secure, environmentally safe storage for archival materials.
Visiting scholars, researchers and genealogists will find study carrels and a well-stocked library of Jesuit history.
The archival records, representing 16 states, span 175 years of Midwest and Jesuit history. The Jesuits, who arrived in Missouri in 1823, founded St. Stanislaus Seminary in Florissant, Mo. In its 149 years of existence, the seminary trained more than 3,000 Jesuit priests and brothers who founded missions, churches, universities, colleges and high schools throughout the Midwest. The archives holds the early records of these institutions and the files, photographs, books and periodicals related to deceased Midwest Jesuits.
Special collections include the papers of the 19th century missionary to the Native Americans of the Northwest, Peter John De Smet, SJ. This collection draws researchers from around the world.
The Potawatomi and Osage Mission files contain much Native American linguistic information, making the Kansas Mission files some of the most consulted in the archives. Native Americans often seek access to a Potawatomi dictionary of thousands of words compiled by Maurice Gailland, SJ (1815-1877).
Copies of songs written by Dan Lord, SJ, a well-known youth leader who died in 1955, also are some of the most requested items in the archives.
For more information, call the Midwest Jesuit Archives at 361-7765.