Alexander Gardner Across the Continent on the Kansas Pacific Railroad 1868-1869 Photograph   In its earliest days St. Louis had few libraries and few galleries to preserve the monuments of art which its citizens could enjoy as a mark of the cultural growth of the fledgling metropolis. Surprisingly so, since the city was, due to its geographical position, at the center of a great historical movement - the settlement of half a continent was underway for all to see, which authors, journalists, engravers, lithographers and painters were busy documenting through stirring works of literature, poetry, and the fine arts. From its beginnings the Library sought to provide its rooms as a gallery for art as well as for books to its members - the early populace of a frontier city. In many ways, the Mercantile was founded by business leaders not only as a general library for all readers, but also an art museum, one of St. Louis' first and longest lasting, in which such merchants exercised a high degree of taste and knowledge in collecting art for the viewing public. The books are yet to be written which will examine in detail how art in early American cultural institutions, i.e., those of learning, such as schools, early design academies, and libraries was viewed and what the early Mercantile classes were trying to achieve in their endeavors to promote a truly national, American art.