The Morse Papers consists of textual, microform, audiovisual, and photographic material. The preponderance, though by no means all, of this material relates to the ILO. While its focus is inevitably more personal than organizational, it reveals the varied facets of Morse's work and that of his staff, the delegates to the International Labour Conference, and the members of the Governing Body. Other phases of Morse's life are well-represented, too, including his years in the Army (1942-1945), the Department of Labor (1946-1948), and the United Nations Development Programme (1970-1972). Material of a private nature is also present, the most notable elements being a collection of wartime correspondence between Morse and his wife, Mildred, and a variety of mementos, such as photographs, newspaper clippings, and documents, from the couple's youth and family. While the Morse Papers are not without lacunae, particularly with regard to Morse's prewar career, they shed ample light on his activities, the concerns which animated them, and the relationships in which they were centered. Researchers can expect to encounter both the large and the small in Morse's life -- from his views on internationalism to his views on small-town New Jersey -- and, in the process, construct a rounded picture of an influential public figure in the last half of the twentieth century.

Throughout his life, Morse met and corresponded with many individuals of national and international significance concerning labor issues. This collection contains correspondence or records of discussion with Dean Acheson, Leonid Brezhnev, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dag Hammarskjold, Averell Harriman, Paul G. Hoffman, C. Wilfred Jenks, David Lilienthal, George Marshall, Leopold Senghor, and U Thant.