University Archives
& Special Collections

William Inglis Morse Collection

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION | COLLECTION HISTORY | MAJOR SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

William Inglis Morse (1874-1952), author, historian, minister, and philanthropist, was introduced to the pleasures of reading by his mother. Many pleasant evenings were spent by the farmhouse fireside in Paradise, Nova Scotia, listening to his mother read from the Bible, British literature and history, and popular American fiction. His early adventures in reading instilled in him an interest and respect for all aspects of the book that would remain with him throughout his entire life.

After a year of teaching in a rural school near his home in the Annapolis Valley, Morse decided to further his own education. The eighteen year old spent a preparation year at Horton Academy and then entered Acadia University in Wolfville. Upon completion of his BA in 1897, he enrolled in the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Three years later he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity. His first position was as chaplain and English master at Westminster School in Simsbury, Connecticut. Ordained into the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1901, he served as assistant minister at St. John's Church, Stamford, Connecticut for two years before being appointed rector at Church of the Incarnation, Lynn, Massachusetts.

For the next twenty-five years, William Morse served the congregation of Lynn. Throughout his years in the ministry, Morse pursued his literary and scholarly interests. In 1908 his first book was published, Acadian Lays and Other Verse. As his interest in Acadia expanded, Morse began to research the early decades of Acadian settlement in Nova Scotia. His research took him abroad to England and France. Research trips in 1921, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1931, and 1935 provided him with invaluable information and the opportunity to actually start collecting in his areas of interest. Morse published a number of entertaining travelogues chronicling his travel adventures. More importantly for future historians, he also edited and published the contents of the significant Acadian documents he had acquired. Gravestones of Acadie (1929), The Land of the New Adventure (1932), Acadiensia Nova (2 volumes, 1935) and Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts (1939) were all major contributions to the study of Acadian history.

Parallel to his literary and scholarly activities were Morse's activities as a collector and philanthropist, activities that were shared and supported by his wife Susan (Ensign). He took great pleasure in the hunt and also believed strongly that books should be "handed on as a heritage of the ages." Between 1926 and 1931 he collected and donated a major scholar's library, including some outstanding Canadiana, to his alma mater, Acadia University. From 1933 to 1942, he performed a similar act of generosity for Dalhousie University. In 1943, Morse was appointed Honorary Curator of Canadian Literature and History at Harvard, where he proceeded to build up yet another major library. Yale and the University of King's College were also recipients of significant individual items and/or collections related to their institution's research strengths.

In recognition of his scholarly and philanthropic work, William Morse was awarded honorary degrees from Acadia University (1926), Dalhousie University (1936) and the University of King's College (1947). Today, researchers in many disciplines throughout Nova Scotia and New England are indebted to the collector who gave away his collections.