Archive of The Charles W. Morse Family Papers

Bath, Maine; New York City, 1940. Very Good. An important collection of correspondence, documents, photographs, and related papers of Wall Street shipping and bank magnate Charles W. Morse and his sister Jennie Rodbird Morse, his lifelong confidant and collaborator. The collection consists of about 8.5 linear feet of material, the bulk of which dates from the 1880s-1920s. It contains over 300 letters (ALS, TLS, and Autograph cards), of which nearly 100 (along with several dozen telegrams) are by Morse. Also included are several other Morse family letters and correspondence from colleagues and friends, many financial and legal documents, over 100 photographs, an 1877 travel diary kept by Morse, six pocket diaries kept by Jennie, and several scrapbooks and ephemera, dating back to the 1830s and up through the 1930s. In addition to providing a rare glimpse into the shipping and shipbuilding life of Maine in the 19th Century, the collection documents the entirety of Morse's notorious career - beginning in Bath, Maine (where he skillfully used family connections to gain control of the State's lucrative ice market, shipping, and shipbuilding industries), and his dramatic rise from "Ice King" to "Admiral of the Atlantic Coast"; and as one of Wall Street's top power brokers from about 1899-1909. A detailed finding aid to the collection is available.