How Do We Know?

Continuing the Search

 

Strategies for Further Discovery

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Newspaper Searches: Searches in library historical newspaper databases can lead to articles that discuss Robert Morris and other historical figures of interest. The Boston Herald, for example, covered many of Morris's cases. Try searches such as "Robert Morris, Esq.ā€; ā€œRobert Morrisā€ and counsel; ā€œRobert Morrisā€ and client; ā€œRobert Morrisā€ and court; or ā€œRobert Morrisā€ and verdict. Newspapers such as The Liberator and Frederick Douglassā€™s Paper (previously The North Star) reported constantly on antislavery and civil rights activism.

Genealogical Records: Databases like Ancestry.com contain a wealth of information including census records, vital records (e.g., birth, death, and marriage), wills, and city business directories. Researchers can learn a great deal about historical figures like Morris, as well as family members, colleagues, and clients, by using these resources.

Digitized Book Collections: In addition to searching library databases and catalogs, researchers can get leads to valuable sources by searching digital book collections like Google Books, Internet Archive, and HathiTrust for key terms like ā€œRobert Morrisā€ and lawyer and Boston. Library catalogs and resources like Google Books allow users to narrow search results by publication date, so researchers can focus, for example, on books published in the 19th century.

Researching His Circle: Research on historical figures like Morris can be expanded by examining materials focused on people in his life, such as Ellis Gray Loring, William Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Maria Child, and Charles Sumner. This material might include archival collections containing items like diaries, letters, and account books, as well as biographies and published collections of letters. Keep in mind that in the age of communication via physical letters, Morrisā€™s letters likely would have survived only in the collections of the recipient.

Bibliography

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Archives & Papers

  • Robert Morris Papers ()
  • The Harriet Hayden Albums ()
  • Robert Morris Collection ()
  • State Judicial Records ()
  • Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009 ()
  • Records of the Young Men's Catholic Association ()
  • Account Book of Francis Jackson, Treasurer: The Vigilance Committee of Boston, 1850-1861 ()
  • Charles Sumner Correspondence, 1829-1874 (MS Am 1) ()
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General

  • Laurel Davis and Mary Sarah Bilder, Law Library Journal vol. 111, no. 4 (2019): pp.461-508.
  • Stephen Kantrowitz, More than Freedom: Fighting for Black Citizenship in a White Republic, 1829-1889. New York: Penguin Books, 2013.
  • William Leonard, Historical Journal of Massachusetts vol. 37, no. 1 (Spring 2009): pp. 65-85.
  • Stephen Kendrick and Paul Kendrick, Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.
  • Kathryn Grover and Janine V. da Silva, Boston, December 2002.
  • James Oliver Horton and Lois W. Horton, Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in the Antebellum North, rev. ed. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1999.
  • J. Clay Smith, Emancipation: The Making of the Black Lawyer, 1844-1944. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
  • In Memoriam: Robert Morris, Sr., Born June 8, 1823, Died December 12, 1882. Boston, 1883[?].
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More on the Early Civil Rights Movement

  • Stephen Kendrick and Paul Kendrick, Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.
  • Gerald Gillerman, ā€œSarah Roberts, Charles Sumner, and the Idea of Equality.ā€ Boston Bar Journal vol. 31 (Sept./Oct. 1987): pp. 40-46.
  • Kabria Baumgartner; ā€œ'Full and Impartial Justice': Robert Morris and the Equal School Rights Movement in Massachusetts."ĢżThe New England QuarterlyĢżvol. 95, no. 2 (2022): pp. 155ā€“191. doi:
  • Kabria Baumgartner, In Pursuit of Knowledge: Black Women and Educational Activism in Antebellum America. New York: New York University Press, 2019.
  • Amber D. Moulton, The Fight for Interracial Marriage Rights in Antebellum Massachusetts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015.
  • Hilary J. Moss, Schooling Citizens: The Struggle for African American Education in Antebellum America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
  • Carleton Mabee, ā€œA Negro Boycott to Integrate Boston Schools.ā€ The New England Quarterly vol. 41, no. 3 (1968): pp. 341ā€“61.
  • G.W. Woodson, The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861: A History of the Education of the Colored People of the United States from the Beginning of Slavery to the Civil War. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Associated Publishers, 1919.
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More on Morris's Antislavery Activism and Involvement in the Fugitive Rescue Cases

  • John D. Gordan III, The Fugitive Slave Rescue Trial of Robert Morris: Benjamin Robbins Curtis on the Road to Dred Scott. Clark, NJ: Talbot Publishing, 2013.
  • Gary Collison, Shadrach Minkins: From Fugitive Slave to Citizen. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.
  • Robert T. Teamoh, "Lewis Hayden Dead." Boston Daily Globe, Apr. 7, 1889, available from ProQuest.
  • "Avarice Defeated - Justice Triumphant." The North Star, Oct. 13, 1848, available from African American Newspapers (Morris represents sailor Leaven Young against Captain William Jackson Steward for nonpayment of wages).
  • "Another Slave Case in Boston." Boston Herald, Nov. 3, 1846, available from NewsBank (Morris represents Mary Miranda).
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More on Morris, Catholicism, and the Irish Community

  • William Leonard, Historical Journal of Massachusetts vol. 37, no. 1 (Spring 2009): pp. 65-85.
  • Stephen Kendrick and Paul Kendrick, Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004.
  • Thomas H. O'Connor, "The Pilot and the Slave." The Pilot, Feb. 26, 1999.
  • Thomas H. O'Connor, Civil War Boston: Home Front and Battlefield. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997.
  • Charles F. Donovan, David R. Dunigan, and Paul A. FitzGerald, History of Boston College: From the Beginnings to 1990. Chestnut Hill, MA: University Press of Boston College, 1990.
  • Stuart B. Meisenzahl, ed. Boston: Sub Turri, 1963.
  • M.P. Curran, Norwood, MA: Norwood Press, 1906.
  • . Boston: Cashman, O'Connor, 1894.
  • In Memoriam: Robert Morris, Sr., Born June 8, 1823, Died December 12, 1882. Boston, 1883[?].
  • "Brief Notes." The Commonwealth, Oct. 29, 1870.
  • The Elevator, May 28, 1869 (Morris on segregated church seating, European travel, visit to Vatican).

The Library of Robert Morris

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  • James Heffernan, "" John J. Burns Library (blog). Boston College. May 11, 2015.
  • "" (Spring 2017). Exhibition at Boston College Law Library and associated catalog.
  • (LibraryThing). A reconstruction of Morris's library, based on his extant books at Boston College, his account book, and other sources.

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