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Finding Aid for the Willard S. Morse Collection of Material About Bret Harte, 1850-1935
1019  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administrative Information
  • Biography
  • Scope and Content
  • Indexing Terms
  • Related Material

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Willard S. Morse Collection of Material About Bret Harte,
    Date (inclusive): 1850-1935
    Collection number: 1019
    Creator: Morse, Willard S. (Willard Samuel), 1856-1935
    Extent: 12 boxes (6 linear ft.) 1 oversize box
    Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.
    Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
    Abstract: Willard S. Morse (1856-1935) was a mining executive in the West and Mexico. He was later made a director and member of the executive committee of the American Smelter Securities Company, Chilean Exploration Company, and Braden Copper Company. After retiring, Morse devoted much of his time to the collection of Americana. The collection consists of extracts of writings by Harte from periodicals, newspaper clippings by and about Harte, original photographs of Harte, two books, dealer catalogs, related correspondence with Morse, and a collection of clippings relating to the Pony Express, 1904-35.
    Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
    Language: English.

    Administrative Information

    Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

    Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

    Restrictions on Access

    COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.

    Additional Physical Form Available

    A copy of the original version of this online finding aid is available at the UCLA Department of Special Collections for in-house consultation and may be obtained for a fee. Please contact:
    • Public Services Division
    • UCLA Library, Department of Special Collections
    • Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
    • Box 951575
    • Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
    • Telephone: 310/825-4988 (10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m., Pacific Time)
    • Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Willard S. Morse Collection of Material About Bret Harte (Collection 1019). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

    UCLA Catalog Record ID

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 4233456 

    Biography

    Morse was born on June 12, 1856 in Ware, Massachusetts; at age 15 he began an apprenticeship in a machine shop in Taunton; moved to the West, where he first worked as a clerk in the Denver post office, and then in the office of the Consolidated Virginia mine at Virginia City, Nevada; later became a mining executive in the West and Mexico; moved to New York City in 1906, where he was made a director and member of the executive committee of the American Smelter Securities Company, Chilean Exploration Company, and Braden Copper Company; withdrew from active business in 1919, serving in an advisory capacity until 1922; wrote many articles for technical society publications; devoted much of his retirement to the collection of Americana; published works include Howard Pyle: a record of his illustrations and writings (comp. with Gertrude Brinklé, 1921) and Francis Bret Harte first editions and manuscripts: the Willard S. Morse collection (1939?); he died on October 4, 1935 in Santa Monica, California.

    Scope and Content

    Collection consists of extracts of writings by Harte from periodicals, newspaper clippings by and about Harte, original photographs of Harte, two books, dealer catalogs, related correspondence with Morse, and a collection of clippings relating to the Pony Express, 1904-35. Includes George Sterling's book, Art and life (1920), and Harte's copy of Ermete Pierotti's, Nomenclature des rues, impasses, passages...de Paris (1878).

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
    Harte, Bret, 1836-1902.

    Related Material

    • Collection of Bret Harte Letters (Collection 487). Available at Department of Special Collections, UCLA.
    • Linda Diz Barnett Collection of Materials about Bret Harte (Collection 2014). Available at Department of Special Collections, UCLA.