Important Note: Please consult our reference room staff regarding collections access and scheduling a visit. Some special collections are being stored remotely and have restricted access until Level 1 reopens.
The St. Louis Mercantile Library has, since its founding, considered art as essential to accomplishing its educational and cultural mission. Inspired by its first exhibited work of art – a painting lent by Charles Deas – the Library has developed a significant permanent collection of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, decorative arts and folk art. These works relate to and complement the Library’s archival and manuscript holdings by providing visual documentation of the physical and cultural development of our city, state, and nation.
As evidenced by its fine art collection, the Mercantile Library continues to collect, preserve and exhibit the work of artists who have made Missouri their home, from the early artist-explorers for whom St. Louis was a hub for access to the unexplored West to today’s artists who continue to capture the life and beauty of the American Midwest.
You can browse selections from the Mercantile Library Art Museum collection on the Digital Library. More works are added regularly, so check back often.
For guest access to the Mercantile and Thomas Jefferson Libraries' book catalog, visit Discover @UMSL.
