Last updated [October 21,  2015]

The Fr. John Emonts SCJ Museum was established in the Leo Dehon Library wing of Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology (SHSST) on April 20, 1982. Three exhibit cases contain artifacts from the Kingdom of Bamum, a pre-colonial West Africa state in what is now Cameroon. Fr. Emonts was a missionary from the SCJ Eastern (Germanica) Province in the German Kamerun from 1912-1916 and  collected the royal, ceremonial artifacts . With the capture of Fumban, the seat of the Bamun Kingdom, by the British army under Colonel Gorges in December 1915, Fr. Emonts eventually moved to Spain from 1920-21 and finally emigrated to the United States of America in 1923. Before his arrival in the United States of America, he wrote about his experiences and his artifacts in Ins Steppen-und-Berland Inner Kameruns that was published by Xaveriusverlag in Aachen, Germany in1922.  Artifacts were shipped to the United States of America in 1931 from Cameroon by Rev. Joseph Bernard, SCJ.

A ceremonial wood mask, a miniature carved wood throne, an ornate iron spear, and a brass bird-shaped bowl are among the 40 objects pictured and described in the online Cameroon Artifacts Collection. It can be accessed at:

http://leodehonlibrary.libguides.com/dehonian

Justin Krenke, a former candidate with the Priests of the Sacred Heart (SCJ), created the online exhibit during the summer of 2015 in collaboration with Rev. Wayne Jenkins, S.C.J., archivist for the SCJs’ USA Province, Susanna Pathak, director of the Leo Dehon Library, and librarian Ann Owen. Justin utilized resources in the archives and the Dehon Library during his research for the exhibit. This is the first joint project of the SCJ USA Province Archives and the Leo Dehon Library.

The artifacts can be viewed in-person at the Fr. John Emonts Museum in the library wing of Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology.