Fordham University Duane Library

Map depicting The Journeys of St. Isaac Jogues in the New World above entrance to Duane Library, currently the Office for Undergraduate Admissions

Detail of map depicting The Journeys of St. Isaac Jogues in the New World

For the wall above the main entrance to Duane Library, Hildreth Meière designed a large map depicting The Journeys of St. Isaac Jogues in the New World. He was the first Catholic Priest in New York City. The map was executed in casein and gesso relief by Louis Ross, whose name appears together with Meière’s on the bottom left:

Detail of credit line on map: “designed by Hildreth Meière, executed by Louis Ross, 1949”

A photograph taken in 1949 shows the map as it originally looked on the wall above the entrance to Duane Library:

Map over main entrance to Duane Library when it was first installed in 1949. ©Peter A. Juley Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

Meière and Ross collaborated on all three of her commissions at Fordham University. In addition to painting the map, Ross, gilded Meière’s three painted altarpieces for the main and side altars of the University Church.