Review of Sacred Encounters (History/Art/Religion)
Steve Brock
MOUNTAIN WEST, edited by Jacqueline Peterson with Laura Peters.
Published by the De Smet Project, Washington State University, in
association with the University of Oklahoma Press, 1005 Asp Ave.,
Norman, OK 73019, (800) 627-7377, (405) 325-5000 FAX. Illustrated
(200 color and 20 black-and-white photographs), index, bibliogra-
phy, maps. 194 pp., $49.95 cloth (0-8061-2575-6), $24.95 paper (0-
8061-2576-4).
REVIEW
"What is in your heart?"
-- Salish greeting
It was a fortuitous time for Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, a
Belgian Jesuit, to appear among the Indian tribes of northern Idaho
and western Montana in the mid-1800s. The Salish (Flathead) had
invited him to live with them in response to a prophesy that a
white man in a black robe would improve their lives. The predic-
tion, unfortunately, did not include the warning that De Smet would
also seek to impose an inflexible religious regime that flew in the
face of tribal spiritual practices.
"Sacred Encounters" is the exhibition catalog for a museum
display at the Vancouver Museum through March 7. The catalog is
colorfully illustrated with archival drawings (most by Nicholas
Point, De Smet's archivist), portraits of tribal members, reproduc-
tions of letters and photographs of Native clothing and artifacts.
Jacqueline Peterson, Washington State University professor and
curator of the exhibition, furnishes an enlightening and authorita-
tive historical essay, pointing out such subtleties as the De Smet
crucifix worn by Sitting Bull in the famous and widely circulated
Edward S. Curtis photograph and the hymns that were converted into
medicine songs.
De Smet sent numerous articles of clothing and other artifacts
to friends and relatives in Belgium, and Peterson made three trips
there to recover them, albeit temporarily, for the show. This is
an impressive and resounding work, highly recommended for scholars
of Native history, culture, and religion.
The schedule for the exhibition is as follows:
April 23, 1994 - August 21, 1994: Kansas City Museum
October 8, 1994 - January 8, 1995: Natural History Museum of
Los Angeles County
March 18, 1995 - June 20, 1995: Eiteljorg Museum of American
Indian and Western Art, Indianapolis