After becoming American, Moravian communities in North America began to travel the world and spread the gospel. The 19th and 20th centuries marked an expansion of Moravian missionary activity. One impact that is often overlooked is how missionary efforts abroad expanded the cultural horizons of the home populations back in Salem, North Carolina. Missionaries collected and sent back hundreds of cultural objects to show their supporters evidence of the diverse communities they worked among. Many of these objects were later donated to the Wachovia Historical Society, which were then transferred to the Lam Museum of Anthropology for permanent study and conservation. This exhibit displays artifacts collected by missionaries in the Arctic, the Caribbean, and Latin America to tell stories of cultural meetings, exchanges, and transformations.

Explore the exhibit sections below