Overview
Correspondence, reports, notes, etc., of Theresa Jacobson Morse, unit chief in the Wage Stabilization Division of Region I of the National War Labor Board, president of the Massachusetts League of Women Voters, and chair of the Divisional Committee on Recreation, Informal Education and Group Work of United Community Services.
Dates
- Creation: 1935-1951
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Theresa Jacobson Morse as well as copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
1.25 linear feet ((3 file boxes) plus 1 oversize folder)The collection consists exclusively of Theresa Jacobson Morse's work-related papers. Materials from her work with the National War Labor Board consist primarily of correspondence, reports, and Morse's notes. She seems to have focused particularly on the textile industry in Massachusetts. There are syllabi, handouts, and notes from courses on labor that she took at Harvard in 1946-1947. Morse's work with the League of Women Voters evidently also focused on labor and economic issues; there are printed materials, correspondence, memos, and meeting minutes about state taxes and public expenditures in Massachusetts and on such issues as strikes and collective bargaining.
Morse's work with United Community Services is documented in memoranda, meeting minutes, and reports. Of particular note are the reports of the Recreation, Informal Education and Group Work Division on the facilities of many of the institutions in greater Boston that were affiliated with United Community Services. There are also correspondence, memos, and reports from the Massachusetts Committee of the Midcentury White House Conference on Children and Youth. Her work with the Hyams and A.C. Ratshesky Foundations and other organizations in the Jewish community is not documented in the collection.
Many of the materials were in folders when received by the library, but most of these folders were unlabelled. Morse's original folder labels appear in quotation marks in the inventory below.
BIOGRAPHY
Theresa Jacobson Morse was born in Cedarhurst, New York. After graduating from Woodmere Academy (New York) in 1926, she attended Barnard College for one year; she married Alan R. Morse (Harvard '19) in September 1927. Morse transferred to Radcliffe College as a "special student" and received her degree (A.B., Fine Arts) in 1934. The Morses lived in Brookline, Massachusetts, and had three children: Edith Morse Greene Milender (born 1929), Ann Morse Cohen (born 1932) and Alan R., Jr. (born 1938). Alan Morse, Sr. died in 1980.
In 1942 Morse was hired as a consultant in the consumer division of the Office for Price Administration. From 1942 to 1945 she was a unit chief in the Wage Stabilization Division of Region I of the National War Labor Board. She was president of the Massachusetts League of Women Voters (1948-1951), and sat on the board of the Brookline Housing Authority (1949-1974). Active in social service work for many years, she was chair of the Divisional Committee on Recreation, Informal Education and Group Work of United Community Services (now United Way). She received the Honorable John Perkins Award for outstanding service to children and youth in 1970. She was a Trustee of Hyams Foundation and President of A.C. Ratshesky Foundation for many years.
Physical Location
Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 85-M92
The papers of Theresa Jacobson Morse were given to the Schlesinger Library by Theresa Jacobson Morse in May 1985.
CONTAINER LIST
- Box 1: 1-27
- Box 2: 28-59
- Box 3: 60-86
Processing Information
Processed: September 1996
By: Susan von Salis
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Camps--Massachusetts
- Collective bargaining--United States
- Community centers--Massachusetts--Boston
- Jewish women
- Labor disputes--United States
- Labor economics--Massachusetts
- Labor unions--Law and legislation
- Mid-century White House Conference on Children and Youth (1950 : Washington, D. C.)
- Recreation--Massachusetts
- Social service--Massachusetts--Boston
- Social settlements--Massachusetts--Boston
- Textile industry--Massachusetts
- Wages--Law and legislation
- Women--Education--Law and legislation
Subject
- Harvard University--Students (Organization)
- League of Women Voters of Massachusetts (Organization)
- Title
- Morse, Theresa Jacobson, 1909-1993. Papers of Theresa Jacobson Morse, 1935-1951: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- sch00744
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.