Alice Cordelia Morse

Background and Education

Alice Cordelia Morse was a designer during the American Arts and Crafts Movement. She was born on June 1, 1863 in Hammondsville, Jefferson County, Ohio. She lived with her parents, Joseph and Ruth Perkins Morse [Willets, 119] , her brother Joseph Jr., and her sister Mary in Jefferson county for the first few years of her life [Teacher's Record Card] . The family then moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn [Edna Harris, "New Book Covers," "Brush and Pencil", vol. 5, no. 3 (1899): 124] . In a biography written in 1894 by Frances E. Willard and Mary Livermore, it was mentioned that Alice attended school at a young age but her early drawings failed to reveal any special talent. Her skills did however eventually improve as an artist and she moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan to further her education [Alice Morse's Scranton Public Schools Teacher's Record Card] . She attended the Woman's School of Art at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art from 1879-1883 where she received her undergraduate degree in art and design. Cooper Union was one of the first few arts schools open to women in the 1900s. In addition, both the programs for men and for women were viewed upon with equally high stature. Cooper Union's primary mission was to provide every student, especially the working class, with an equal opportunity toward a fulfilling education that would create a solid foundation for future job security and financial independence. The school provided very flexible class schedules for those who had to work in order to pay for school. Although some students paid tuition, Cooper Union would often waive fees for students who were proven to be financially incapable of payment. Morse was likely one of these students [Alice C. Morse, will, May 20, 1954] . After completing her undergraduate education in 1883, she returned from 1889 to 1891 in pursuits of a graduate degree [Willard and Livermore, 523] . Out of seven hundred applicants, she and 291 other students were accepted into the program directed under Susan N. Carter [Willard and Livermore, 523] . Carter firmly believed that women excelled men in the industrial arts and she felt that women were completely capable of financial independence just as men were. She joined with a team of nineteen other women to create new and improved educational programs for women in addition to administering the school [Willard and Livermore, 523] . Around this time, toward the end of the nineteenth century, is when Cooper Union really started to be expand in terms of students, size, and programs offered. Upon the time of Morse's departure from graduate school, there were over 400 students enrolled at the Women's Art School ["Annual Report of the Trustees of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art" (New York: 1879-83 and 1889-91).] .

After her graduation from Cooper Union in 1883, Morse studied at various art schools, including Alfred State College in New York, and soon began her career as a professional designer. She worked with many famous designers of the time period including John LaFarge ["Annual Report of the Trustees of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art" (New York:1892),12.] and Louis Comfort Tiffany, both whom were well-known for their arts in stained glass. She was employed by Tiffany's studio up until she returned to Cooper Union in 1889 ["Annual Report of the Trustees of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art" (New York:1879), "Instructors in the Free School of Science and Art", unpaged] . Although she had learned a lot from Tiffany, she did not find great interest in Stained-glass and instead wanted to pursue other dreams of becoming a book cover designer. She decided this after she had won several book cover designing competitions. She applied and combined many of her skills in stained glass art with her skills in book cover design ["Annual Report of the Trustees of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art" (New York:1890), R. Swain Gifford, J. Alden Weir and Charles A. Vanderhoof were listed in "Instructors in the Cooper Union Free Schools: Woman's Art School," unpaged.] .

During Morse's final year of graduate school in 1892 at Cooper Union, the New York Times reported her winning the "Frederick A. Lane, Robert C. Goodhue, and Trustees Silver Medal" for her full figure life drawing titled "Drawing from Life" [Morse's Teacher's Record Card] . She also sold several of her book cover designs to major New York publishers of the time including Charles Scribner's Sons, Harper & Brothers, G.P. Putnam's Sons, and Dodd, Mead & Company. Carter indirectly referred to Morse's Success and talent in the 1892 copy of the Annual Report [Martin Eidelberg, Nina Gray, and Margaret K. Hofer, A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls (New York: The New-York Historical Society; and London: D. Giles Limited, 2007), 16.] . New York City: November 2007

The Woman's Building at the World's Columbian Exposition

The Woman's Building was designed by Candace Wheeler who was a member of the Cooper Union Advisory Council while Alice was enrolled. She was now the director of the Bureau of Applied Arts at the Women's Building. Alice Cordelia Morse along with the Board of Women managers and thousands of other women across the country took part in planning the fair at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Alice served as chairman of the Sub-Committee on Book-Covers, Wood-Engraving, and Illustration of the New York State Board of Women Managers [Martin Eidelberg, Nina Gray, and Margaret K. Hofer, A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls (New York: The New-York Historical Society; and London: D. Giles Limited, 2007), 14, 184-185.] . The main goal of this project was to create exhibitions illustrating women's contributions to art, industry, sciences, social reforms, and philanthropic work in hopes of winning voting rights and better job opportunities for women. Alice also created an exhibition for the exposition that displayed eleven of her book-covers. She placed well in the exhibition receiving both a gold medal and a diploma for her designs [Martin Eidelberg, Nina Gray, and Margaret K. Hofer, A New Light on Tiffany: Clara Driscoll and the Tiffany Girls (New York: The New-York Historical Society; and London: D. Giles Limited, 2007), 28-34.] .

Morse wrote a chapter for the Woman's Building Handbook titled "Women Illustrators" which included photographs of her own book-cover designs. These books included "The Chevalier of Pensieri-Vani" (92-1); "The Chatelaine of La Trinite" (92-2); "Old Ways and New" (94-2); "The Alhambra" (92-8); "Scenes from the Life of Christ" (92-7); and "The Conquest Granada" (93-3) [Willard and Livermore, 523] . Morse also created the cover for the Distaff Series which was a volume of six books written by women and published by Harper & Brothers. The series was sold in the Woman's Building ["Cooper Union Graduates Graduates," "New York Times", May 30, 1891; Willard and Livermore, 523] . Candace Wheeler wrote the introduction for this series entitled "Household Art" which described the series as being typeset, printed, and designed by women [Cooper Union (1891),76] .

Also in 1893, Frances E. Willard and Mary Livermore published their book "A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-seventy Biographical Sketches of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life ". [Cooper Union (1892),13] . The book was a collection of biographies that highlighted the talents of women of all ages and their varied interests including philanthropy, social services, and the arts. In addition, the book contains the only known photograph of Alice Cordelia Morse [Peck and Irish, 65-66. "The Woman's Building at the World's Columbian Exposition, 1892-93"] .

The New York Society of Decorative Art

The New York Society of Decorative art was founded in 1877 by Candace Wheeler. After the World's Columbian Exposition, Alice Cordelia Morse became a designer for this society. This society was very similar to Cooper Union because it too was dedicated to helping aspiring female artists and artisans to excel in their fields and obtain employment ["Report of the Board of General Managers of the Exhibit of the State of New York, at the World's Columbian Exposition" (Albany: J.P. Lyon, 1892),193.] . The society provided courses in needlework for women, a venue for the sale and marketing of high-quality decorative goods, and popularized household decorations through exhibitions and lectures. They even created a showroom for which the women's work could be sold at a ten percent commission. Candace Wheeler developed a design committee that would regularly assemble to criticize and draft new needlework pieces [Morse's entries in the exhibition are described in "Report of the Board of General Managers", 193] which were then given to students to sew [Elliot, 68-67] . Morse's former employer, Louis C. Tiffany and former teacher, John LaFarge were two of the members on the committee [Morse's entries in the exhibition are described in "Report of the Board of General Managers", 193] . On the committee, Morse ultimately served as a main designer of the needleworks. Even though she primarily focused her skills on her book cover designs, she also published designs for decorative and useful objects that could be copied. For example, several of her designs for china painting and wood burning were published in the popular serial "Art Amateur" of 1897 [Peck and Irish, 69-70] .

Morse as a designer of book covers

Throughout the 1890s (1887-1905), Alice Cordelia Morse designed approximately eighty-one book covers [Peck and Irish, 523] , many of which were submitted to popular publishers throughout New York City. In the book "Art and Handicraft in the Woman's Building", Alice implied that the illustrator must be able to take the central idea of the book and depict it creatively onto its cover. She believed women were best at designing. She stated in her text that "Their intuitive sense of decoration, their feeling for beauty of line and harmony of color insures a high degree of success" [Peck and Irish, 70] . Morse designed covers for various types of books, including novels, drama, poetry, literature, art history, travel, instructional manuals, women's health and home issues, children's stories, and pet care [Peck and Irish, 27-38] . She also designed covers for various famous authors including Amelia Barr, Lafcadio Hearn, William Dean Howells, Thomas Nelson Page, and Oscar Wilde [Corticelli Home Needlework: A Manual of Art Needlework, Embroidery and Knitting, edited by Mrs. L. Barton Wilson, Mrs. Emma Haywood, Miss Alice C. Morse, Miss Elizabeth Moore Hallowell, and Mrs. Amalia Smith (Florence, Massachusetts: Nonotuck Silk Company, 1898): Design for a centerpiece or doily, The Garland Wild Rose and Forget-me-not Design No. 54, 30-31. Design for a photograph frame, Garland photograph Frame Design No. 62, Colored Plate XXV, 73-74.] . Because of her great talent, she was often asked to design for special holiday books and expensive publications.

During the time she served for the major publishers in New York City, they would often submit her designs to famous exhibitions of applied arts and book arts ["Bookbindings at Scribners'," "The New York Times", November 12, 1894.] , the most important one being the "Commercial Book-bindings" exhibition. This exhibition recognized the works of talented male and female artists and architects, including Sarah Wyman Whitman, Margaret Armstrong, Stanford White, George Wharton Edwards, and Edwin Austin Abbey. Her designs Sweet Bells Out of Tune (93-1), The Odd Number (89-4), Marse Chan (92-12), and Stevenson's Ballads (90-9) were recognized in various small review articles [John T. Winterich, "The Grolier Club", 1884-1967 (New York: The Grolier Club, 1967),7.] . Stevenson's Ballads was actually featured in one of Author B.E. Hubert Jr. famous books. He also included his own brief summary of the struggle of female artists and Morse's success in the field [Frederick R. Brandt, "Designed To Sell: Turn-of-the-Century American Posters in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts"(Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1994),75.] [R.R. Bowker, ed., "American Catalogue" 1890-1895, (New York: Peter Smith, 1941),472.] [Charles Gullans and John Espey (1979),53-54; "Publisher's Weekly" (December 20, 1890):990] .

Morse's two head rivals of the time were Sarah Wymann Whitman and Margaret Armstrong [Aldine Club, "Catalogue of an Exhibition of Oil and Water-Color Paintings Loaned by New-York Artists, Also of Modern Cloth and Leather Book-Covers and Original Designs Therefor, at The Aldine Club, from the Twenty-fifth to the Thirty-first of March, Inclusive", (New York: The Aldine Club, 1892); (anonymous author), "Commercial Book-bindings: An Historical Sketch, with Some Mention of an Exhibition of Drawings, Covers, and Books, at the Grolier Club, April 5 to April 28, 1894" (New York, The Grolier Club, 1894); Architectural League of New York, "Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Architectural League of New York" (New York: Architectural League of New York, 1889-1890, 1893-1895)] . The three were considered to be at the top of their generation of designers. Whitman's most famous covers of the time were designed for Boston's Houghton Mifflin [Architectural League of New York (1899), "Introductory," unpaged.] and today she is credited to be the overall best designer, male or female, for book covers [Grolier Club (1894), 114-15] . Whitman was also the first to design her own hand-drawn alphabet font ["The House and Home: A Practical Book" (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1894), vol.1, p.9] which was often borrowed by other artists, including Morse ["The House and Home: A Practical Book" (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1894), vol.1, p.7] . Armstrong was the youngest ["The House and Home: A Practical Book" (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1894), vol.1, p.7, Anne Reeve Aldrich, "Songs About Life, Love and Death" (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1892), p.9] of the three but published over hundreds of book cover designs and thousands of illustrations ["The House and Home: A Practical Book" (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1894), vol.1, p.7, Anne Reeve Aldrich, "Songs About Life, Love and Death" (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1892), p.6-7] . She was a botanical illustrator so many of her designs were admired for their beauty because they were often filled with bright colors and floral designs [Elliot, 75.] . She worked for many of the same publishers as Morse [Charles Cullans and John Espey, Margaret Armstrong and American Trade Binding (Los Angeles, California: University of California, Los Angeles, Research Libraries, Occasional Papers 6 (1991),2.] and eventually created several of her own hand-drawn alphabets just as Whitman did. Of the three, Morse was the one who depended most on her skills as a main source of income. The other two were wealthy women. Morse, however, when creating a design took more risks and produced a greater range of variations than her other competitors [Elliot, 75] .

Morse did not stick strictly to designing book covers. Because her work become so popular, publishers often sought her out and paid her to create posters and in-text illustrations as well. Three known advertising posters include The Paying Guest (95P-1), Kate Carnegie (96P-1) published by Dodd, Mead, and Emma Lou, Her Book (96P-5) published by Henry Holt & Co [Gullans and Espey (1991), 132] . She also received commissions for adding decorative borders, vignettes, and title pages to publications [Gullans and Espey (1991),14] .

Demand for book-cover designs soon subsided in the early 1900s with the invention of illustrated paper book jackets [Gullans and Espey (1991),69-107] . This saved money because it replaced the expensive decorative cloth jackets that had been used in the past by Morse [Willets, 119] .

"Alice Cordelia Morse. Cover Design for Tattle Tales of Cupid by Paul Leicester Ford. Dodd, Mead and Company. 1898."

Morse as an educator in Scranton, Pennsylvania

Because the need for book-cover designs diminished in the late 1890s, Alice Cordelia Morse set out for a new occupation. In 1896 she attended the Pratt Institute in New York City pursuing a 2-year degree in teaching [Willets, 119] .

After she graduated from Pratt Institute in 1897, Alice moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania to accept the position of supervisor for the city's public school system. At this time Scranton was a very wealthy city and was well-known for its coal resources. Morse made a better living as a teacher than she ever did as a designer [Willets, 119] . For her first position, she was appointed supervisor of the art and drawing programs for local elementary schools. She worked there for two years and then accepted the position as supervisor for the art and drawing programs for high schools. She worked out of Scranton Central High School which was considered to be the best school in the area at the time. It served as a college preparatory school for both girls and boys [Gullans and Epsey (1979),95 (note 25)] . Morse was offered her final position in 1917 as district director of all art and drawing programs in both elementary and high schools across the area. She remained in this position for the last seven years of her career until her retirement in 1924 [Morse's Teacher's Record Card] .

Because it was not acceptable for women to live alone during this time period, Morse resided at the Leah M. Health boarding house while in Scranton [Alice C. Morse, probate proceeding, will of Alice C. Morse, dated September 26, 1961, File No. P1394, Surrogate's Court, Bronx County, New York.] . Heath was also employed by Central High School [Morse's Teacher's Record Card] . Morse lived in the home for 12 years with Heath and two other boarders until Heath's death in 1913 [Alice C. Morse, probate proceeding, will of Alice C. Morse, dated September 26, 1961, File No. P1394, Surrogate's Court, Bronx County, New York.] . Morse and Heath established a great friendship because they shared many of the same interests, including art [Morse's Teacher's Record Card] . In addition, Morse took care of Heath during her last few years of life ["Scranton Republican", June 13, 1912] . Heath left the boarding house to Morse in her will ["Report to the Library of Trustees..1923"] . Morse eventually sold the home and moved into another Scranton address. Over the summer months, she would often take art language courses at various universities including Harvard, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the Atkinson School in New York City. In addition, she would travel abroad to paint and visit art galleries in Holland, Belgium, France, and Italy [Morse's Teacher's Record Card] .

After twenty-five years of working for Scranton public schools, Morse retired in 1924 [Alice C. Morse will dated May 20, 1954] . She returned to New York City and moved into a home with her widowed sister [The Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 19 (1923), p. 23] . She donated 58 of her book covers to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library where they were exhibited for a short while. They then were preserved in the library's print holdings and remained inaccessible until 1997 [Morse's Teacher's Record Card] . Not much is known of her life after her return to New York City [Alice C. Morse will dated May 20, 1954] . Alice Cordelia Morse died on July 15, 1961 at the age of 98 in the Bronx's St. Barnabus Hospital. She was asked to be cremated and for her ashes to be dispensed somewhere beautiful [Alice C. Morse will dated May 20, 1954] .

-Scranton, Pennsylvania"April 22, 2008"

External links

* [http://bindings.lib.ua.edu/designers2.html Alice Cordelia Morse]
* [http://matrix.scranton.edu/resources/re_art_gallery_exhibition.shtml University of Scranton Art Gallery]
* [http://www.cooper.edu/ Cooper Union]
* [http://www.metmuseum.org/TOAH/HD/cawh/hd_cawh.htm Candace Wheeler]
* [http://www.chicagohs.org/history/expo.html The World's Columbian Exposition]
* [http://www.nyhistory.org/web/default.php?section=whats_new&page=detail_pr&id=2742029 New York Society of Decorative Arts]
* [http://bindings.lib.ua.edu/designerbios/armstrong.html Margaret Armstrong]
* [http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=3350 Sarah Wyman Whitman]
* [http://www.pratt.edu/ Pratt Institute]

References

All of the information on this site was summarized from a book titled "The Proper Decoration of Book Covers: The Life and Work of Alice C. Morse" which was composed by Mindell Dubansky. Several essays by Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen and Josephine M. Dunn were also included in the book. Mindell Dubansky is the book conservator of the Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has spent the past several years researching Alice Cordelia Morse as well as several other artists of the time period.