A sneak-peek exhibit at the Cape Girardeau County History Center in Jackson features items from a collection belonging to Cape Girardeau founder Louis Lorimier and his descendants, said center director Carla Jordan, and the complete collection will be available to researchers early next year.

Jordan said the collection is "extremely important" to Cape Girardeau County.

This branch of the family began with Lorimier's daughter, Maria Louise, who married a member of the Rodney family, Jordan said.

The materials were donated to the Cape Girardeau County Historical Society by Grace Jueneman and her late husband, Donald Jueneman.

"We have worked with the Jueneman family in Houston, Texas, for over a year," Jordan said.

The family wanted the collection to be back in Cape Girardeau County, Jordan added.

The documents include land grants, slave documents and other original documents which, Jordan said, are complex, but part of the fabric of this region.

Lorimier himself was illiterate, Jordan said, which was not unusual among French male leadership -- he employed a secretary and scribe, Bartholomew Cousin.

Home furnishings, including a chair that once belonged to Maria Louise Rodney, and crystal and silver pieces, are also part of the larger collection, Jordan said.

Items from early Cape Girardeau County families of Whitelaw, Rodney, Jueneman and Carmack are also part of the collection.

Photographs of early Cape Girardeau landscapes are included as well, Jordan said.

"It's magnificent," Jordan said of the collection. "It's probably one of the most significant collections of my career."

Jordan, who has worked on projects ranging from preserving Native American tribal artifacts to Route 66 preservation efforts, said this project in particular is important to Cape Girardeau County.

Jordan said the group working to document and display the collection is being mentored by the State Historical Society of Missouri, and she expects other historical societies and sites across the state could be interested in long-term loans of pieces in the collection.

But that's for the future, she said.

For now, Jordan said, the City of Jackson has provided a secure room for the collection to be housed while it's being processed.

The document collection will be available for researchers in early 2019.

A sneak preview of the collection is on display now from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, at the Cape Girardeau County History Center, 102 S. High St. in Jackson.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Read more about Louis Lorimier at https://www.semissourian.com/blogs/flynch/entry/66490