Henry Morford: An Inventory of His Scrapbook at the Harry Ransom Center

Henry Morford:

An Inventory of His Scrapbook at the Harry Ransom Center

	Creator:	Morford, Henry, 1823-1881
	Title:	Henry Morford Scrapbook
	Dates:	1795?; 1816; 1840-1867 (bulk 1860s)
	Extent:	1 bound volume in custom box (1.13 linear feet)
	Abstract:	The scrapbook of American author and journalist Henry Morford contains chiefly autographs (281), letters written to Morford (135), and a few personal or career-related documents (25). Numerous persons in journalism, literature, the performing arts, and politics are represented, as well as a few who fought for the Union during the American Civil War. Morford’s scrapbook was formerly part of the Ransom Center’s Theater Arts Manuscripts Collection, but now forms a separate, discrete collection.
	Call Number:	Manuscript Collection MS-54167
	Language:	English

	Access:	Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials.
	Use Policies:	Ransom Center collections may contain material with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in the collections without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Ransom Center and The University of Texas at Austin assume no responsibility.

Administrative Information

	Acquisition:	The Henry Morford Scrapbook was formerly a part of the Center’s Theater Arts Manuscripts Collection, but now forms a separate, discrete collection. Items in the Theater Arts Manuscript Collection were mainly acquired from either the Albert Davis Collection of Theater Artifacts in 1956, or the Messmore Kendall Collection in 1958.
	Processed by:	Joan Sibley, 2024 Note: This finding aid replicates and replaces information previously available only in a card catalog. Please see the explanatory note at the end of this finding aid for information regarding the arrangement of the manuscripts as well as the abbreviations commonly used in descriptions.

Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Scope and Contents

	The scrapbook of American author and journalist Henry Morford contains chiefly autographs (281), letters written to Morford (135), and a few personal or career-related documents (25). Numerous persons in journalism, literature, the performing arts, and politics are represented, as well as a few who fought for the Union during the American Civil War. Morford’s scrapbook was formerly part of the Ransom Center’s Theater Arts Manuscripts Collection, but now forms a separate, discrete collection.
	The items document Morford’s wide circle of colleagues, friends, and acquaintances as he lived and worked in New Jersey and New York City for various newspapers (New Jersey Standard, New York Atlas, etc.) and clerked for the New York Court of Common Pleas (1861-1868). The scrapbook contains items by many other authors (poets, novelists, humorists, and playwrights); journalists, editors, and publishers; theater actors and other performers plus theater managers and agents; and attorneys, bureaucrats, judges, and politicians. Several items concern the death of Elmer E. Ellsworth, the first Union officer to die in the Civil War. Only a few items represent members of the Morford family other than Henry.
	Among the figures represented by three or more items in the scrapbook are: Arthur O’Neil Alcock (soldier), J. C. Croly / “Jennie June” (author), Hiram Fuller (editor), Charles G. Halpine / “Miles O'Reilly” (poet, editor), Laura Keene (actress, manager), Eugene Fenwick Loveridge (editor, novelist), William A. Moore (dramatist), R. H. Newell / “Orpheus C. Kerr” (humorist), Charles B. Parsons (soldier), Edward Askew Sothern (actor), Mortimer Thomson / “Q. K. Philander Doesticks” (journalist and humorist), Lester Wallack (actor), and Frank Wood (editor, dramatist). See the following Alphabetical Index of Items for a complete list of names present along with descriptions of items.
	In addition to autographs and letters, the documents include addresses, an appointment, convention documents, a draft notice (specimen), legal documents, a manuscript of a rhyme, several passes/tickets, a receipt, roll calls, a publisher’s announcement, a school certificate, seals, and a soldier’s vote form and envelope.
	Three loose documents were found in the scrapbook and documented when it was rebound in 2006: 1) a blank scrapbook leaf; 2) a printed and handwritten draft of a sale description of the scrapbook along with a card with the signature of Mrs. Henry Morford; and 3) an incomplete handwritten document listing toasts given at an unidentified function, 2 pages on single leaf numbered as page 39, undated.
	Research suggests that the third document may continue an incomplete entry in a minute book for The Society of Tammany, or Columbian Order records held by the New York Public Library. Page 38 in the digitized Committee of Amusement minutes lists patriotic toasts numbered 1 through 4 given on 23 February 1795 for George Washington’s birthday. The single leaf numbered page 39 continues with toasts numbered 5 through 15, followed by a brief closing note on the verso. In addition to textual and water-damage similarities between the minutes and the single leaf, the source given for the Society records is Douglas Taylor, a member of the Society. The Morford Scrapbook contains an 1865 autograph of a Douglas Taylor, identified by Morford as the New York Commissioner of Jurors, suggesting a possible connection.
	Note on Morford’s Labels
	Morford labeled nearly all items in the scrapbook with names, identifications, and dates
	Morford’s identifications are usually given by occupation, but sometimes are only a title (Dr.; Hon.; Prof., Rev.); the title of a particular publication; the title of an office held; or an address or a place name. The terms used are not consistent, but they convey some sense of the period and Morford’s style and vocabulary as he compiled his scrapbook. These are a few of the identifications he used, grouped by type:
	Actor/actress, tragedian/tragedienne, comedian/comedienne, magician, minstrel, pantomimist; Agent, dramatic agent; Artist; Attorney, lawyer; Author/authoress, dramatist, litterateur/litterateuse, novelist, poet, poetaster, poetess, rhymer, writer; Bohemian; Clerk; Composer, maestro; Editor/ed./editress, journalist, magazinist, reporter; Judge; Manager/manageress; M.C. for Member of Congress, Senator; Musician, pianist; Orator, elocutionist, lecturer; Secretary/sec./secy.; Schoolmaster; Soldier, U.S. Vols. or more specific unit or rank, hero, escaped prisoner; Translator.
	Conservation and Handling Note
	The scrapbook’s original Morocco leather binding was removed due to poor condition and replaced with a new archival-quality binding in 2006. The pages and items are in good condition except for the breakage of some page corners, particularly at the front of the scrapbook. Users should place the volume in a book cradle to protect the spine and gently turn the pages, taking care to avoid handling any broken top or bottom corners.

Related Material

	Folger Shakespeare Library. Autograph letter signed from Henry Morford to Col. T. Allston Brown, New York, 1876 November 4
	Folger Shakespeare Library. Autograph letters signed from Henry Morford to Augustin Daly, 1872-1875
	Harvard University. Houghton Library. Poems: manuscript, 1839-1842
	Harvard University. Houghton Library. 21 letters from Henry Morford to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1873-1880
	Harvard University. Houghton Library. Letter from Henry Morford to Cooper, 1874
	Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 14 letters from Henry Morford to Rufus W. Griswold, R. Shelton Mackenzie, and Dr. R.L.M., 1843-1873
	Monmouth County Historical Association. Henry Morford Poetry, ca. 1840, 1871 (Coll. 250)
	Monmouth County Historical Association. Letters from Henry Morford to James S. Yard in the Yard Family Papers, 1731-1934 (Coll. 19)
	University of South Carolina. Henry Morford, Alexander Nasmyth, and William Nicholson. To the memory of Robert Burns

Index Terms

	Subjects
		American Literature
		Performing Arts

Container List

Henry Morford Scrapbook:

Morford, Henry, 1823-1881, compiler. Scrapbook of autographs, letters to Henry Morford, and related documents, 81 numbered pages followed by an unpaginated alphabetical index, 1795?; 1816; 1840-1867. Accompanied by three loose leaves: 1) a blank scrapbook leaf; 2) a printed and handwritten draft of a sale description of the scrapbook along with a card with the signature of Mrs. Henry Morford; and 3) an incomplete handwritten document listing toasts given at an unidentified function, 2 pages on single leaf numbered as page 39, undated (possibly 23 February 1795).

Container 1 (bv)

Request entire Container 1 (bv)

Alphabetcal Index of Items

Format of index entries:

• Personal name of creator plus life dates if available (many name forms were taken from the Library of Congress Name Authority File or from other authoritative sources; some variant names such as pseudonyms are also provided), or

• Corporate body name of creator and (by personal name of creator);

• Letterhead name if present;

• Morford’s identification of the creator, if any (Morford family member identifications were added during cataloging);

• Format of item: “autograph:” “letter:” or “document:” (use these terms to search this Index by format);

• Date of item;

• Scrapbook page location for item.

Explanatory Note Concerning Manuscript Collections Cataloged in the Card Catalog

Prior to 1990 when archival cataloging procedures were adopted at the Ransom Center, all manuscript collections were described in a card catalog.

Organization of Collections:

Manuscripts for each author collection were organized into four categories:

Works: manuscripts by the author, arranged alphabetically by title;

Letters: the author's outgoing correspondence, arranged alphabetically by recipient name;

Recipient: the author's incoming correspondence, arranged alphabetically by the author of the letter; and

Miscellaneous: all other manuscripts and correspondence, arranged alphabetically by creator.

Materials that did not fit into these categories, such as art, photographs, books, and near-print materials such as newspaper clippings, were dispersed to other Ransom Center collections for cataloging and storage.

Abbreviations Used in Descriptions:

The symbols below were used in combinations. For example ALS means autograph letter signed; Tccms means typed carbon copy manuscript, etc.

Collections