Jesuits and the Construction of Knowledge, 1540–1773 (2011)

October 2011 through February 3, 2012

As missionaries, scholars, teachers, authors, and members of learned academies, members of the Society of Jesus exerted great influence on the world of early modern European learning. Though such activities attracted critique both thoughtful and scurrilous, the wide scope of Jesuit contributions to scholarship in fields from astronomy to zoology, from history to linguistics, invites re-examination. This exhibit, drawing on extensive holdings in Special Collections of illustrated works by Jesuit authors, explored their role in the construction of knowledge from the establishment of the Society of Jesus in 1540 through its papal suppression in 1773. The books on display featured intriguing illustrations ranging from scientific diagrams and maps to natural history illustrations and ethnographic representations. A checklist is available.

The exhibit was a collaboration undertaken by Florence Hsia, James Lattis, Robin Rider, and Meridith Beck Sayre. It also provided a focus point for the Mellon workshop on science and print culture in fall semester 2011, organized by Prof. Hsia through the UW-Madison Center for the Humanities, including a well-attended concert, “Kircher’s Rome: Music in the 17th-century Collegio Romano,” as performed in Special Collections by Eliza’s Toyes on December 1, 2011. The program reflected vocal and instrumental music one might have heard in the Society of Jesus’ college in 17th-century Rome. The polymath Athanasius Kircher, professor of mathematics at the Collegio Romano, mentioned these composers in his Musurgia universalis (1650), a monumental encyclopedia of musical history, theory, and practice.

This program was part of the A.W. Mellon Interdisciplinary Workshops in the Humanities, sponsored by the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison with support from the A.W. Mellon Foundation. Co-sponsored by the School of Music, UW-Madison.