- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Morrow, James H., 1820-1865
- Title:
- James H. Morrow Papers
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/6q182k89j
- Dates:
- 1842-1865
- Size:
- 1 box and 0.2 linear feet
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1
- Language:
- English
Abstract
James H. Morrow was a young physician with an extensive background in natural history and agriculture when Secretary of State Edward Everett appointed him to serve as agriculturist with the U.S. expedition to Japan, led by Commodore Matthew Perry, in February 1853. Included in the collection are Morrow's original autograph draft of his expedition journal (approx. 213 pp.), other expedition-related material, and a number of documents of biographical interest about Morrow.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Description:
The collection consists of Morrow's original autograph draft of his expedition journal (approx. 213 pp.), over 100 pp. of manuscript lists and receipts for seeds and agricultural items, 19 manuscript letters or notes, one photograph of Morrow, and various additional documents, all inscribed or completed in manuscript. Much of this relates to the Perry Expedition, documenting, supplementing, and corroborating the published journal and papers edited by Allan B. Cole (A Scientist with Perry in Japan: The Journal of Sr. James Morrow, 1947) -- themselves a supplement to Perry's Narrative of the Expedition of the American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan . . . (1856). In addition to the expedition materials, the collection includes a number of documents of biographical interest about Morrow, dating from his college years in the 1840s to the year of his death in 1865 at the age of forty-five.
- Arrangement
Arranged chronologically within two groups: Perry Expedition material, Morrow biographical material.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Morrow, James H., 1820-1865
James H. Morrow was a young physician with an extensive background in natural history and agriculture when Secretary of State Edward Everett appointed him to serve as agriculturist with the U.S. expedition to Japan in February 1853. Commodore Perry's ship having already departed for Asia in the fall of 1852, Morrow sailed on board the U.S.S. Vandalia in March 1853 to meet with Perry at the Lew Chew (Liu Ch'iu) Islands in the East China Sea. The parties came together in July, and for nearly six months Morrow and the other scientists of the expedition based themselves in Macao preparing for the Japanese mission and touring the vicinity of Macao, Hong Kong, Whampoa, and Canton, where they made various scientific and cultural observations. In February 1854, the expedition arrived in Japan, and for eighteen weeks Morrow carried out his instructions as agriculturist to introduce and distribute Western seeds, plants, and agricultural implements to the Japanese; to collect and care for indigenous seeds, specimens, and agricultural tools and products; and to keep a full and accurate journal, which would be delivered to the Department of State upon his return.
Morrow, James H., 1820-1865
James H. Morrow was a young physician with an extensive background in natural history and agriculture when Secretary of State Edward Everett appointed him to serve as agriculturist with the U.S. expedition to Japan in February 1853. Commodore Perry's ship having already departed for Asia in the fall of 1852, Morrow sailed on board the U.S.S. Vandalia in March 1853 to meet with Perry at the Lew Chew (Liu Ch'iu) Islands in the East China Sea. The parties came together in July, and for nearly six months Morrow and the other scientists of the expedition based themselves in Macao preparing for the Japanese mission and touring the vicinity of Macao, Hong Kong, Whampoa, and Canton, where they made various scientific and cultural observations. In February 1854, the expedition arrived in Japan, and for eighteen weeks Morrow carried out his instructions as agriculturist to introduce and distribute Western seeds, plants, and agricultural implements to the Japanese; to collect and care for indigenous seeds, specimens, and agricultural tools and products; and to keep a full and accurate journal, which would be delivered to the Department of State upon his return.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
Purchased from William Reese Co. in 2012 (AM2012-55).
- Appraisal
No appraisal information is available.
- Processing Information
This collection was processed by John Delaney in January 2012. Finding aid written by John Delaney in January 2012, based on the dealer's descriptions.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
- Credit this material:
James H. Morrow Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/6q182k89j
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1
Find More
- Existence and Location of Copies
Part of Morrow's journal and other Morrow material related to Perry's expedition to Japan was published in A Scientist with Perry in Japan: The Journal of Dr. James Morrow (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1947), edited by Allan B. Cole.
- Subject Terms:
- Agriculture -- Japan -- History -- Sources.
Agriculturists -- United States -- 19th century -- Manuscripts.
Scientific expeditions -- Japan -- 19th century.
Seeds -- United States -- Lists.
United States Naval Expedition to Japan -- (1852-1854) - Genre Terms:
- American diaries -- 19th century.
Correspondence -- 19th century
Lists -- 19th century. - Names:
- Perry, Matthew Calbraith, 1794-1858.
- Places:
- United States -- Foreign relations -- Japan -- 19th century.
