Description
The items in Series 1 relate to Morris' life until his retirement in the late 1940s. The
series contains correspondence and ephemera relating to his personal life (1907-1947);
correspondence, ephemera and publications relating to the College of the Pacific
(1909-1918) and to the Bureau of Vocational Guidance at Harvard University (1918-1919);
correspondence, ephemera, photographs, reports and students lists of the University of
California, Berkeley Wesley Foundation (1919-1925) and a Morris manuscript history of the
Foundation, as well as pamphlets of the history of other Wesley Foundations & clippings.
The items in Series 2 relate to Morris' presidency of the California-Nevada Annual
Conference Historical Society during the 1950s. They consist of: correspondence, ephemera
and minutes produced by the Cal-Nev Methodist Historical Society; programs and reports of
the California-Nevada Conference of the Methodist Church (1948-49; 1956; 1958); and,
books, bulletins, flyers, magazines, periodicals, pamphlets, newspapers and photographs
relating to Methodism and to other historical societies in California. Series 3 contains
Morris' manuscript drafts and notes for Morris' a history of California and a history of
religion in California. Series 4 consists of publications and unpublished materials by
Edward Blakeman, a Methodist contemporary of Morris' and a religious educator at various
universities.
Background
Bert Jasper Morris (1875-1959) graduated from Kansas Wesleyan University (1903), received
a second A.B. from the University of California (1904), a B.D. from the Pacific School of
Religion in Berkeley (1906), an A.M. from Harvard University (1907), and a Ph.D. from
Boston University (1908). He was Professor of Philosophy and subsequently Acting
President at the College of the Pacific in San Jose (1909-1918), spent two years at
Harvard University with the Bureau of Vocational Guidance (1918-19), served as the
Director of Religious Education and founder of the Wesley Foundation at UC Berkeley
(1919-1925), was Religion and Community Editor and columnist with the Pacific Rural Press
(1920s-1950s), and, pastored a church in Portola during the 1940s. Upon his retirement,
Morris served as the California-Nevada Methodist Annual Conference Historical Society
President (1950s).