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Donald Grant Morgan was born on June 7, 1911 in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Cornell University in 1933 and received an Ed.M., A.A., and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He taught at Trinity College and in 1943 he began teaching at Mount Holyoke in the Political Science Department. He did extensive research on the Massachusetts Town Meeting. He married Margaret Prince, with whom he had four children. He retired from Mount Holyoke in 1972 after publishing two books and numerous articles. Donald G. Morgan died on October 4, 1985 in Bellows Falls, Vermont.
The Donald G. Morgan Papers consist of correspondence, writings, research material, student papers, biographical information, and photographs. The material primarily concerns Morgan's professional life as a Mount Holyoke College professor and political scientist, 1944-1976. Over the course of Morgan's career, he corresponded with numerous people in the United States government and at other colleges and universities for advice and assistance. Of particular note are numerous letters to and from Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter and Senator Sam J. Erwin, Jr. Other letters include two letters from former president Harry S. Truman, a letter from then-Senator John F. Kennedy, and a letter from Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Morgan also was in frequent contact with Harvard Law School Professor Mark Antony DeWolfe Howe and Mount Holyoke College Trustee Gerhard Loewenberg. These letters all predominantly concern the research and publication of his book "Justice William Johnson: The First Dissenter" and "Congress and the Constitution: A Study in Responsibility," though many of the letters also reflect a friendly relationship. Many Mount Holyoke College alumnae kept in close contact with Morgan and frequently asked him for recommendations and advice about applying to graduate programs and law schools. Morgan also wrote frequently for local and national papers and scholarly journals about economic, environmental, and social concerns. In the years leading up to his retirement, he became interested in the New England tradition of Town Meetings and was instrumental in the creation of a documentary on the topic. Information on this, along with a number of student research papers on towns in Massachusetts and Vermont, is included in the collection. Some of Morgan's writings are written in Braille, and a significant amount of the biographical material relates to his experience as a blind professor. Other biographical material consists of newspaper clippings about his books and his achievements at Mount Holyoke College. A number of formal and candid photographs of Morgan with family, students, and his guide dogs are included in the collection.
This collection is organized into five series by type of material.
Unrestricted
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Donald G. Morgan Papers, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, Massachusetts