A Guide to St. Louis Archives
At first glance, St. Louis might seem like an odd place to find national archives for religious congregations. But dig a little deeper, and it’s not as surprising. As religious orders have begun to consolidate in recent decades, so too have they begun to consolidate their archives.
And because of their historic roots in the area, and the city’s central location, numerous congregations are choosing St. Louis to house their national archives. Many are Catholic, but you’ll also find some significant Protestant collections. Here’s a little background on why.
The present-day city of St. Louis, Missouri, was established as a fur trading post in 1764 by Pierre Laclede, on the traditional territories of the Osage Nation, Missouria, and Illini Confederacy. Chosen for its ideal location along the Mississippi River, many of the early European settlers in St. Louis were French fur traders. In 1803, the United States acquired the territory from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase. When steamboats arrived in St. Louis in 1817, connecting it with the lucrative port city of New Orleans, the trading town on the Mississippi was on its way to becoming a crossroads of commerce in the central United States. Missouri entered the union as a slave state in 1821, and the city of St. Louis was incorporated in 1823. With westward expansion came more settlers from the eastern United States, as well as European immigrants: between 1840 and 1860, tens of thousands of German and Irish immigrants settled in the St. Louis region. The city’s growing population, along with the continued presence of indigenous peoples, meant that St. Louis and neighboring towns like St. Charles, Florissant, Carondelet, and O’Fallon appealed to religious congregations looking to establish missions, churches, and schools in the so-called “new world.”
In 1818, Bishop William DuBourg arrived in St. Louis, where he established the episcopal seat of the future Archdiocese of St. Louis and founded St. Louis Academy, which later became Saint Louis College, and then Saint Louis University. That same year, he invited French Sister Rose Philippine Duchesne of the Religious of the Sacred Heart (RSCJs) to establish a school for girls, which they did in St. Charles before moving to Florissant. They would go on to found additional schools in the area, including the future Maryville University, and today the RSCJs continue to operate the Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles and Villa Duchesne High School in St. Louis. DuBourg soon invited the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) to establish a presence in the region and oversee missions to indigenous people, as well as launch new missionary outposts in the West. The Jesuits established the Missouri Mission (later the Missouri Province) in Florissant in 1823 and assumed administration of Saint Louis College in 1829. Saint Louis University, along with Saint Louis University High School and DeSmet Jesuit High School, remain Jesuit educational ministries today. In 1836, Bishop Joseph Rosati invited the Sisters of St. Joseph from France to open a school for the deaf in St. Louis. They established a convent in Carondelet on the outskirts of St. Louis, which remains the headquarters of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJ) in the United States today. Their educational ministry includes area schools like Fontbonne University and St. Joseph’s Academy. The Sisters of the Most Precious Blood (CPPS) also left Europe for the United States in 1870, settling first in Illinois before establishing their motherhouse in O’Fallon, Missouri, where they are still located today.
St. Louis was, and continues to be, a hub of Catholicism; but Protestants also found a place to call home in the region, some of whom helped establish new congregations and church bodies in the United States. The U.S. Episcopal Church established Christ Church (now Christ Church Cathedral) in St. Louis in 1819, also in the context of westward expansion. The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri was organized in 1840, encompassing several congregations in the St. Louis region. Today, the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri continues to be seated in St. Louis, and it includes 41 congregations in eastern and central Missouri. In addition, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS)—originally called the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States—traces its origins to 1847, when German immigrants from congregations in Missouri and five other states founded a new church body. Prior to this, German immigrants had established Concordia Seminary in 1839 in Perry County, Missouri, before relocating to St. Louis in 1849. Concordia continues to be an LCMS seminary today.
Archives in St. Louis
Catholicism and Slavery
Although Missouri did not secede from the United States during the Civil War, enslavement continued to be legal in the state until the abolition of slavery in 1865. Prominent Catholic orders along with individuals like Bishops DuBourg and Rosati owned enslaved people. In recent years the Jesuits, the RSCJs, and the St. Louis Archdiocese have been researching this history in their archival collections here in St. Louis, and, when possible, have connected with descendants of the people their predecessors enslaved.
Carondelet Consolidated Archive
https://csjcarondelet.org/about/archives/
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (CSJs) consolidated their province’s separate collections into one archive in 2018, located at the Carondelet Motherhouse in South St. Louis. Today, the Carondelet Consolidate Archives includes “administrative records and other historical materials relating to the governance, ministries and members of the congregation.”
Concordia Historical Institute
https://concordiahistoricalinstitute.org/chi-collections/
Formed in 1927, Concordia Historical Institute (CHI) has served as the official repository for the history and archives of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) since 1959. Today, CHI’s expansive collections make it “one of the world’s largest repositories of information on Lutheranism in North America.” Its holdings date back to the 19th century and include documents such as the personal papers of Lutheran theologians, pastors, professors, and others, and the records of Lutheran congregations, educational institutions, boards, and other official synodical bodies.
Episcopal Diocese of Missouri Archives
https://www.diocesemo.org/diocesan-archives/
All official, historical records of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri are housed in the Diocesan Archives in St. Louis. The archives are located in the Bishop Tuttle Memorial Building, adjacent to Christ Church Cathedral, which is the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri and a National Historic Landmark. The Cathedral is a prominent fixture and stands near another St. Louis landmark, the Central Library of the St. Louis Public Library system.
Jesuit Archives & Research Center
Like other religious congregations, the Society of Jesus in the United States is consolidating their separate provincial archival holdings into one common location. The Jesuit Archives & Research Center opened in 2017, near the campus of Saint Louis University. It houses the records of most of the historic and current Jesuit provinces in the United States, as well as the records of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, the Society’s governing body in the U.S.
National Archives at St. Louis
https://www.archives.gov/st-louis
In addition to numerous religious archives, St. Louis is home to the largest holding of federal records outside of Washington, DC. The National Archives at St. Louis houses more than 100 million civilian and military personnel records dating back to the 19th century. The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) is also located on the campus of the National Archives at St. Louis. NPRC is the central repository for military and civilian personnel records that are not yet open to the public (military records are open 62 years after separation from the service; civilian records are open if employment ended after 1951). Sadly, a devastating fire in 1973 damaged or destroyed as many as 18 million Official Military Personnel Files.
Sisters of the Most Precious Blood Archives
https://cpps-ofallon.org/about/archives/
The archives of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood are located in O’Fallon, Missouri, near St. Louis. It is the official repository for “documents, records and other materials generated or received by our congregation and its individual members in pursuit of our mission of service to the Church and to society.”
Society of the Sacred Heart Archives
St. Louis is home to the Archives of the United States-Canada Province of the Society of the Sacred Heart. As the official repository of the RSCJs in North America, the archive houses records of all current and former provinces, including “the records of Sacred Heart convents and communities, schools and ministries, and provincial administrations from 1818 to the present.”
St. Louis Archdiocesan Archives
https://www.archstl.org/archdiocesan-archives
Though not a national repository, the Archives of the Archdiocese of St. Louis include a wide range of documents important to the history and development of Catholicism in the United States, in part because of the Archdiocese’s prominent role not only in the St. Louis region, but also as a site of westward expansion. The Archdiocesan Archives include “the historical records of the offices, missions, parishes, and schools of the Archdiocese.”
