Call Number:

MC.1014

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.5 linear ft. (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Morris Evans Leeds papers (HC.MC.1014), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1862-1944 (inclusive) and 1862; 1942 (bulk)

Form:

envelopes

Abstract:

A collection that focuses on two dates: 1862 & 1942. In the former, Lewis W. Leeds' invention of the window envelope is detailed with contracts, bills, correspondence and samples of the envelope. In 1942, his descendant, Morris E. Leeds corresponds with E. Tudor Gross who has become interested in the invention and ends with the article entitled "The Window Envelope," which appeared in the Collector's Club Philatelist in April of that year.

Morris Evans Leeds (1869-1952) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Barclay R. Leeds and Mary Maule Leeds. He was educated at Westtown School and graduated from Haverford College in 1888. He studied at the University of Berlin from 1892-1893. For a brief time, he taught at Westtown, then was employed by Queen & Company. Beginning in 1889 until 1903, Leeds was managing partner in Morris E. Leeds & Co. He became the president of Leeds & Northrup in 1903. The company made strides not only in the field of precision instruments, but also under the direction of Leeds, in employee working conditions, relations between employees and management, and amelioration of unemployment. In 1926, Leeds married Hadassah J. Moore. They had two daughters. From 1909-1952, he was a member of the Corporation and Board of Haverford College, serving as President of the Board from 1928-1945. Leeds was also active on the School Board of Philadelphia and was its president from 1938-1948. Morris E. Leeds was interested in botany and was a member of many scientific and cultural societies. He was co-author of Toward Full Employment.

Included in the collection is correspondence of Morris E. Leeds, mainly with E. Tudor Gross of Providence, Rhode Island, in 1942, relating to the first window envelope, invented by Lewis Walker Leeds, ca. 1861. Gross was preparing to write an article on the history of the window envelope. The collection opens with a 1942 letter from L. Hollingsworth Wood to Leeds telling him of Gross's endeavor. The papers also include 1862 sample envelopes; a copy of a photograph of Barclay R. Leeds, ca. 1862; a photograph of Lewis W. Leeds, ca. 1862; an 1862 contract with William Lyon to manufacture the "stampsealing and postmark-preserving envelope;" an article in Scientific American, July 12, 1862 about the invention, along with three letters from Barclay Leeds and Lewis Leeds in 1862 detailing some business aspects relating to the envelope; bills, circulars; pictures; copies of the Collectors Club Philatelist, April, 1942, containing E. Tudor Gross's article, "The first window envelope."

Arranged chronologically from 1862-1944.