Call Number:

C0003

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 341 boxes
• 34 items

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Citations should be as follows: Harrison S. Morris Papers, Box #, Folder #, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1895-1935 (bulk) and 1784-1970 (inclusive)

Creator:

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston‏ and Morris, Harrison S. (Harrison Smith) (1856-1948)

Form:

Correspondence, Daguerreotypes (photographs), and Manuscripts

Abstract:

Consists of the personal papers of Philadelphia author, businessman, and philanthropist Harrison S. Morris.

Harrison Smith Morris was born in Philadelphia on October 4, 1856, the son of George Washington and Catharine (Harris) Morris. He had two younger sisters, Matilda Harris Morris and Jane Walters Morris, who never married. At the age of sixteen he went to work for the Reading Coal & Iron Company to help support his parents, who were in ill health. In 1893 he became the managing director of the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts, a position which he held until 1905. Morris also served as editor of Lippincott's Magazine, art editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the National Academy of Design. From 1909-1917 he was president of the Wharton Steel Company. His activities brought him in contact with leaders in the artistic and literary world. He also wrote and published his own works, in both English and Italian, on Roman history, literature, and culture, as well as at least seventeen volumes of poetry, fiction, and essays.

Morris married Anna, daughter of Joseph Wharton, on June 2, 1896. Their only child, Catherine Wharton Morris, nicknamed "Kit," was born on January 26, 1899. Harrison Smith Morris died on April 12, 1948. Anna Wharton Morris died on June 21, 1957, at the age of eighty-eight. Catharine "Kit" Morris Wright died in 1988.

Harrison Smith Morris was born in Philadelphia on October 4, 1856, the son of George Washington and Catharine (Harris) Morris. He had two younger sisters, Matilda Harris Morris and Jane Walters Morris, who never married. At the age of sixteen he went to work for the Reading Coal & Iron Company to help support his parents, who were in ill health. In 1893 he became the managing director of the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts, a position which he held until 1905. Morris also served as editor of Lippincott's Magazine, art editor of the Ladies' Home Journal, and chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the National Academy of Design. From 1909-1917 he was president of the Wharton Steel Company. His activities brought him in contact with leaders in the artistic and literary world. He also wrote and published his own works, in both English and Italian, on Roman history, literature, and culture, as well as at least seventeen volumes of poetry, fiction, and essays.

Morris married Anna, daughter of Joseph Wharton, on June 2, 1896. Their only child, Catherine Wharton Morris, nicknamed "Kit," was born on January 26, 1899. Harrison Smith Morris died on April 12, 1948. Anna Wharton Morris died on June 21, 1957, at the age of eighty-eight. Catharine "Kit" Morris Wright died in 1988.

The collection consists of the personal papers of Morris, which reflect his interest in the world of letters, art, business, and government, as well as the social world of Philadelphia. The collection includes his original manuscripts for novels ( Hannah Bye and The Landlord's Daughter), poetry ( A Duet in Lyrics, Lyrics and Landscapes, and Madonna and Other Poems), short stories ( Tales from Shakespeare and Tales from Ten Poets), essays ( Papers to Put in Your Pipe), non-fiction ( Confessions in Art), biographies ( Walt Whitman and William T. Richards), and book reviews which appeared in periodicals such as Scribner's Magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, and the Century Magazine. Also included are the original manuscripts for "Books of the Month" published in Lippincott's Magazine.

Much of the collection is related to the American art world of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including correspondence from such artists as John La Farge, Joseph Pennell, J. Alden Weir, William M. Chase, Cecilia Beaux, Childe Hassam, Violet Oakley, J. McClure Hamilton, Elihu Vedder, and the sculptor Augustus S. Gaudens, to name but a few. Also, there are papers from institutions of art such as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery, the Art Association of Newport (R.I.), the Albright Art Gallery, the Buffalo Fine Arts Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the St. Louis Art Museum, and the National Academy of Design. In addition, the records of the Rome International Art Exposition of 1911, of which Morris was commissioner-general, are included. Additional papers contain family correspondence dating back to the 1860s, as well as a number of daguerreotypes of family members.

Morris's papers reflect his interest in government at all levels, local, state, and national. Also included are the papers of Philadelphia societies and clubs such as the American Philosophical Society, the Browning Society, the Franklin Inn Club, and the Triplets. Morris was related by marriage to the Wharton and Lippincott families of Philadelphia, and his papers contain correspondence with many of the first families of the city. The Keats-Shelley Memorial Committee and the Hall of Fame are also represented. And there is lengthy correspondence between Morris and Robert Underwood Johnson who shared many literary interests, as well as material relating to Walt Whitman whose life and works were for Morris a life-long passion.

Organized into ten series.