PDF | XML

University of Chicago Library

Guide to the Henry Clinton Morrison Papers 1926-1940

© 2006 University of Chicago Library

Descriptive Summary

Title:

Morrison, Henry Clinton. Papers

Dates:

1926-1940

Size:

.5 linear ft. (1 box)

Repository:

Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.

Abstract:

Henry Clinton Morrison was a Professor of Education and the Superintendent of Laboratory Schools. Contains correspondence with Charles Hubbard Judd, Dean of the School of Education, and other individuals. Also includes Xerox copies of Morrison's writings, biographical material and letters concerning a Ph.D. dissertation on Morrison by Hugo Beck.

Information on Use

Access

No restrictions.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Morrison, Henry Clinton. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

Henry Clinton Morrison, (7 Oct. 1871-19 Mar. 1945), educator, was born in Oldtown, Maine.

Morrison's father John Morrison married Mary Louise Ham and ran a general merchandise store. Morrison grew up in area characterized by the lumber and fishing industries on the east coast. He proved himself as a rugged axe man and canoeist. However, Morrison's success in his academic work so impressed a local banker that he settled the tuition for Morrison's years at Dartmouth. Morrison earned his graduate degrees during his working years; getting his MS from New Hampshire College in 1906 and his LL.D. University of Maine in 1914.

Graduated from Dartmouth in 1885, Morrison entered Milford High School, NH as a "teaching principal"; where he passed on his classical education in Latin, mathematics, history and science. Milford High was notorious for the rough behavior of the boys. Morrison's staunch demeanor made him a person more feared and respected than loved or admired and this attitude assisted him in taming the school. His success there led to the offer to be the superintendent of schools for Portsmouth, NH, from 1899 to 1904. Morrison married Marion Locke in 1902; she mothered three children.

In 1904, Morrison moved into the position of New Hampshire State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He stayed there until 1917 when he suddenly took the position of the Assistant Secretary of the Connecticut Board of Education. After two years on the Board Morrison moved to Chicago to assume the Professorship of Education and the Superintendencey of the Laboratory Schools at the University of Chicago. In 1928 Morrison left the position of superintendent to assume the position of Professor of School Administration until 1937. The Laboratory school was John Dewey's experimental program. Morrison was not interested in experimenting as much as he was discipline and comprehension.

Morrison is best remembered for the work he did at the University of Chicago. He formulated the "Morrison plan" which reorganized the traditional style of teaching. He focused on student comprehension and developed "unit teaching". Morrison aimed to cultivate the students. His standard education involved the three part method of "stimulus, assimilation, and reaction." Morrison best articulated this style, which emphasizes the role of the teacher, in The Practice of Teaching in the Secondary School (1926). His style of teaching dominated the education system in the US and in many international countries until World War II.

In 1937 Morrison retired from the University of Chicago. In March, 1945 he suffered a fatal heart attack while working in his Hyde Park garden.

Scope Note

The major portion of this collection of about 400 pieces is Morrison's correspondence from 1925-1937 with Charles Hubbard Judd, Dean of the School of Education and head of the Department of Education. There is also some correspondence of both Morrison and Judd with other individuals; Xerox copies of documents written by Morrison and of unidentified documents; biographical material; and letters concerning a Ph.D. dissertation on Morrison by Hugo Beck.

The correspondence with Judd concerns appointments to teaching positions in the Department, students' records, the financial situation and building facilities of the Laboratory Schools, and other affairs of the Laboratory Schools and the Department of Education. For example, there are the following items: "Memorandum on the Matter of Junior College Romance" (December 23, 1926); a letter outlining principles to govern recommendations as to the professional standing of members of the faculties of the schools (June 3, 1927); "The Unit Organization of the Geography Course" (June 5, 1929); and a letter concerning the organization of teacher training schools (April 3, 1936). Some items concern Morrison more personally-e.g., letters about books he wrote (March 27, 1926) and letters concerning his request to be relieved of the duties of Superintendent of the Laboratory Schools (May and June, 1928).

Related Resources

Related Resources

Browse finding aids by topic.

Subject Headings

INVENTORY

Box 1   Folder 1

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd, December1925 April 1926

Box 1   Folder 2

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd May 1926-October 1926

Box 1   Folder 3

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd November 1926-December 1926

Box 1   Folder 4

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd January 1927-May 1927

Box 1   Folder 5

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd June 1927-July 1927

Box 1   Folder 6

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd August 1927-December 1927

Box 1   Folder 7

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd January 1928-April 1928

Box 1   Folder 8

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd May 1928

Box 1   Folder 9

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd June 1928

Box 1   Folder 10

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd July 1928-November 1928

Box 1   Folder 11

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd 1928

Box 1   Folder 12

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd January 1929-June 1929

Box 1   Folder 13

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd July 1929-December 1929

Box 1   Folder 14

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd January 1930-December 1930

Box 1   Folder 15

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd March 1935

Box 1   Folder 16

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd March 1936-July 1937

Box 1   Folder 17

Correspondence, H.C. Morrison and C.H. Judd undated

Box 1   Folder 18

H.C. Morrison and Dean W. S. Gray May 1929-June 1930

Box 1   Folder 19

Correspondence between H. C. Morrison and others

  • Milton C. Del Manzo, November 1927
  • John F. Moulds, January 1928
  • Frederic C. Woodward, January 1928
Box 1   Folder 20

Correspondence between C. H. Judd and others

  • Dean W. S. Gray, February 1926
  • J. Cayce Morrison, November-December 1930
  • Members of the Department of Education, March 1937, concerning a dinner for Morrison
Box 1   Folder 21

Documents by Morrison

  • "Building Survey, Hammond, Indiana"
  • "Factors Related to High-School Enrollment in Illinois"
  • "Implications of Population Change and Distribution in Hammond upon a Proposed School-Building Program"
  • "The Major Life-Interests Toward Which School Education May Contribute"
  • "Revenue for Public School Measures"
  • "Soviet Control of the Public Schools?"
Box 1   Folder 22

Xerox copies of documents by Morrison

  • "The Menace of Municipalization"
  • "Proposal for Model and Demonstration Public School Systems for Certain Townships in New Hampshire"
Box 1   Folder 23

Xerox copies of documents by Morrison

  • "What Are the Limits of Public Education?" National Municipal Review, XXIV, 2 (February, 1935) 97-99
  • "What Price Education?" Men and Events (bulletin of the Union League Club, Chicago) July 1934
  • "What Price Education?" typed copy of address to Union League Club, June 4, 1934.
Box 1   Folder 24

Xerox copies of unidentified documents

  • "The Common School and the University", annual meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, University of Chicago, June 11, 1937
  • "Implications of Rank", address at May Conference, University of Chicago, 1922
  • "What Truth", address at Commencement, The Central State Teachers' College, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, June 7, 1940.
Box 1   Folder 25

Unidentified manuscript

  • "Chapter XVI, A Functional Reorganization of School Units" [ca. 1926]
Box 1   Folder 26

Biographical material

  • William C. Reavis, "The Contribution of Professor Morrison to the Improvement of Instruction."
Box 1   Folder 27

Hugo E. Beck correspondence. Letters concerning his thesis on Morrison