Stearns Morse (1893–1976) was a professor of English and an administrator at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of En ...

. He served as a member of the faculty at Dartmouth for 37 years (1923–1960). Morse was also a candidate for

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

who ran on the Farmer-Labor Party ticket in 1937.

Early life and education

Morse was born in Bath, New Hampshire, on a farm developed by his grandfather in the 18th century. After beginning his schooling at a

one-room schoolhouse One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

in Bath, Morse completed his high school education in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He received his bachelor's degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

, in 1915 and his master's degree from the school in 1916. After graduating, he worked for

Little Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

, a publishing house, and ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

''. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served in the

U.S. Army Signal Corps ) , colors = Orange and white , colors_label = Corps colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label = ...

Career in teaching

Morse served as head of the English Department at the Morristown School in Morristown, New Jersey, from 1921 to 1923. In 1923, he joined the faculty in the English Department at Dartmouth College. Dartmouth named him a professor in 1936 and then dean of freshmen in 1946. He served in that role until 1956. Throughout his life, Morse held an interest in the White Mountains. While teaching at Dartmouth, he co-edited two books on the mountain range: ''The History of the White Mountains'' and ''The Book of the White Mountains''. Morse also served as a contributing editor to ''College on the Hill'', a history of Dartmouth prepared for the school's bicentennial in 1969. In 1946, he received an Alfred A. Knopf Fellowship in Biography and History. The fellowship supported his work to write ''The Yankee Spirit''. During his academic career, he published additional books titled: ''Excerpts from our artistic world'' and ''Hopkins of Dartmouth''.

Legacy

The Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College contains Morse's correspondences with fellow scholar

Lewis Mumford Lewis Mumford (October 19, 1895 – January 26, 1990) was an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic. Particularly noted for his study of cities and urban architecture, he had a broad career as a w ...

.Correspondence, 1929–1976, with Lewis Mumford
/ref>

Family

Morse married Helen Field Morse on June 27, 1911. They had three sons and one daughter: Richard, Stephen, Sylvia and Stearns Anthony.

References

1893 births 1976 deaths Dartmouth College faculty Harvard University alumni People from Bath, New Hampshire {{DEFAULTSORT:Morse, Stearns