Morss, Noel

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Noel Morss was born in Boston on December 25, 1904 to Ethel Read Morss and Everett Morss. He prepared for college at the Groton School, and graduated from Harvard in 1926 with a B.A. in economics. Morss went on to receive a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1929 and to practice professionally as an attorney. His interest in anthropology and archaeology was bolstered by his Chestnut Hill neighbors Dr. Hugh O'Neill Hencken and his wife Thalassa Cruso, and by summers later spent leading Peabody Museum archaeological expeditions to Arizona & Utah in 1925,1927, 1928 and 1929. According to J . O. Brew, Morss was "the scholar who defined the Fremont Culture of eastern Utah." His publications on Fremont figurines were highly regarded by his anthropology colleagues. Although Morss did not pursue this interest professionally, his work was of such caliber that he was appointed Chairman on the Visiting Committee, Harvard University Department of Anthropology & Peabody Museum in 1954; and was PM Research Fellow in Prehistory of the American Southwest 1955-60.

Morss also served as Secretary and Treasurer of the American School for Prehistoric Research (ASPR) under Director and founder Dr. George Grant MacCurdy, and was a founding member of the Council on Old World Archaeology (COWA). Morss' long tenure in ASPR spanned his role as an early trustee from 1926 to 1953, to becoming an "ASPR member in the museum" from 1954 onwards (when the ASPR then became a part of the Department of Anthropology in accordance with its founder's will), while serving as secretary and treasurer from 1954 to 1980. Morss died on April 24, 1981.

Sources: Brew, John Otis. "Noel Morss, 1904-1981." American Antiquity 47 (2) 1982, p. 344-45. Cirriculum vita. Noel Morss Papers. Box 4.5 Morss, Christopher. Personal communication, December 29, 1998.

From the guide to the Morss, Noel (1904-1981) Papers, 1927-1980, (Peabody Museum Archives)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Hart, Henry Melvin, 1904-1969. Papers, 1927-1969 Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn Scott, Austin Wakeman. Austin Wakeman Scott papers. 1906-1979. Harvard Law School Library Langdell Hall Cambridge, MA 02138
referencedIn Morss, Noel, 1904-1981. Noel Morss papers, 1927-1980 Peabody Museum Archives, Harvard University
creatorOf Morss, Noel (1904-1981) Papers, 1927-1980 Peabody Museum Archives
referencedIn William B. Provine collection of evolutionary biology reprints, 20th century. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
correspondedWith Anati, Emannuel person
associatedWith Fremont Symposium corporateBody
correspondedWith Hart, Henry Melvin. person
associatedWith Harvard University. corporateBody
associatedWith Morss, Noel, 1904-1981. person
associatedWith Peabody Museum corporateBody
associatedWith Peabody Museum and the Department of Anthropology. corporateBody
associatedWith PMAE corporateBody
correspondedWith Provine, William B. person
associatedWith Scott, Austin Wakeman, 1884-1981 person
associatedWith USGS. corporateBody
associatedWith Williams, Stephen. person
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