Mural of the Past Meets Present-Day Criticism

The Office of the Provost is introducing changes to John Warner Norton’s mural “New Lands Explored and Evangelized by Fathers of the Society of Jesus.” After nearly a year of discernment and deliberation, the mural displayed in the Donovan Reading Room of Cudahy Library will be updated over the next five years due to students’ concerns about the painting’s contrasting alignment with Loyola’s values. 

Commissioned and painted in 1930 for the Cudahy Library, the mural depicts scenes of Jesuit activity in the Great Lakes region and Upper Mississippi Valley during the 17th and 18th centuries. The mural details Jesuit missionaries, such as Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet, and their missions to convert indigenous populations to Christianity. 

Loyola’s Archives and Special Collections webpage notes the painting as a reflection of the time period it was painted in, particularly in its representation of indigenous peoples. 

Third-year English major Isabel Corona questioned the mural’s congruence with the university’s social justice mission, citing Loyola’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) statement.  

“The painting glorifies colonial institutions the university claims to be against in its DEI statement, which reads ‘Our mission [is to] foster a human-centered culture of belonging,’” Corona said. “The painting alienates indigenous cultures and frames them as primitive societies in need of European institutions to modernize. You cannot create a culture of belonging by alienating an entire group of people.”

Fourth-year environmental science student Emma Christopher referenced the school’s 2020 Land Acknowledgement statement which claims to help “build a supportive and welcoming environment for Indigenous people at Loyola.”

“Sometimes I look at the painting and go ‘Hm, should that be there?’” Christopher said. “It’s uncomfortable imagery that doesn’t seem to fit with the land acknowledgement statement that Loyola puts forward.” 

In November, Provost Douglas Woods assembled a small group of Loyola community with expertise in Native American, Great Lakes, Jesuit and art histories to reflect on the mural. The discernment group met five times over three months, gathering scholarly and experiential perspectives to propose potential courses of action. 

The group offered two final recommendations to the Office of the Provost in February 2025 – the mural be left in its current location and be supplemented with a digital, interactive exhibit which situates the painting from the 16th century to the present, or the mural be removed from its current location and rehomed in university archives, a gallery-like setting or another research institution or museum. 

Discernment group facilitator Claire Noonan said the group’s primary intention was to produce options that would support a more positive relationship with indigenous peoples on campus. 

“Whichever course the university chooses, however, there was unanimity in the group that a crucial intended outcome of this discernment process would be a serious, institutional pursuit of growing the community of American Indian students at Loyola, supporting their success and achievement,” Noonan wrote in the group’s final report to the Provost. 

The Office of the Provost announced to faculty via email Sept. 17 the discernment group’s former recommendation will be adopted and the mural will be left in the Donovan Reading Room, supplemented with an exhibit.  

The provost’s announcement to faculty detailed a request for proposals for the interactive exhibit, requiring a semblance of a qualified research team, a project plan including timelines, milestones and deliverables and a detailed budget kept under $100k. Proposals are due by faculty only Dec. 1. 

Woods said the proposals will undergo a voting process and the chosen faculty proposal will be implemented in a digital exhibit by 2030, the painting’s centennial anniversary.

“With that budget and timeline, Loyola could get a Native artist to replace it,” said fourth-year environmental policy major Will Quinn. “I think that would align more with Loyola’s values while investing money in the local community.”    

Provost Woods remained firm in Loyola’s commitment to preserving and learning from its history. 

“Loyola University Chicago is an educational institution that is a product of its history, both joyous and painful,” Provost Woods said. “By fully acknowledging and contextualizing elements of that history that the mural represents, we can not only better understand ourselves, but become better in the future.”