Caust-Ellenbogen, Celia

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Illustrating Progressive-Era Reformin Pennsylvania:The Anna Wharton Morris Papers“AS WE STOOD OUT on the pavement in the cool air, the smell thatcame from the jail door really frightened me.” Anna WhartonMorris gamely entered the jail at Scranton, Pennsylvania, onOctober 22, 1915. What she found inside confirmed her fears: a “youngman lying on his bunk, blood-spattered & feverish, but receiving noattention. Each cell had a double bed for two prisoners; horrible!!”1One of the most active Progressive-era prison reformers in the state ofPennsylvania, Anna Wharton Morris (1868–1957) was described by acontemporary newspaper article as a “tall, forceful woman” who was“keenly interested” in prison reform and well-informed, articulate, andoutspoken on the issue.2 Hailing from Philadelphia’s social and culturalelite, she seems an unlikely person to have had an intimate knowledge ofprisons. Her father, Joseph Wharton, was the prominent industrialist whofounded the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Her hus-band, Harrison S. Morris, was an author, magazine editor, and managingdirector at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She traveled toEurope, won horticultural awards, and rubbed shoulders with such artistsas Violet Oakley. However, she was also an active member of the Reli-gious Society of Friends (Quakers), a sect noted for its members’ engage-ment in social reform movements and a history of imprisonment for theirreligious convictions.3 Much of Morris’s early prison work was donewithin the context of Quaker communities.41 Anna Wharton Morris, “Journal of Prison Work,” p. 4, series 6, Anna Wharton Morris Papers(RG 5/106), Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College (FHL), Swarthmore, PA.2 Rudolph W. Chamberlain described Anna Wharton Morris as the “Quaker leader of prisonreform in Pennsylvania” in There Is No Truce: A Life of Thomas Mott Osborne (New York, 1935), 398.Laura Lee, “Politics Blamed for Prison Evils: Mrs. Harrison S. Morris Believes It’s a Duty to PrepareInmates for Useful Life, Would Teach Officials,” Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, n.d., series 6, AnnaWharton Morris Papers, FHL.3 Anna Wharton Morris’s great-grandfather, Samuel Rowland Fisher, was imprisoned during theRevolutionary War. She published his journals of his experiences in the Pennsylvania Magazine ofHistory and Biography 41 (1917).4 “Journal of Prison Work,” p. 3, Anna Wharton Morris Papers, FHL.PAGE 387THE PENNSYLVANIA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHYVol. CXLIII, No. 3 (October 2019)................. 19384$ CH10 10-25-19 11:52:44 PSCELIA CAUST-ELLENBOGEN388 OctoberMorris served in leadership roles for such organizations as the NationalSociety of Penal Information, Pennsylvania Prison Society, PennsylvaniaCommittee on Penal Affairs, Prison Reform Committee of the PublicCharities Association of Philadelphia, and the Thomas Mott OsborneMemorial Fund.5 In about a twenty-year period, she spent nearly$100,000 on prison work.6 She published articles and letters and spokeon prison issues on dozens of occasions.7 Thomas Mott Osborne, one ofthe most influential prison reformers of the twentieth century, told her in1921, “You are the only person I can trust in [Pennsylvania]!”8The Anna Wharton Morris Papers at the Friends Historical Library ofSwarthmore College is a wellspring of uncommonly well-organized sourceson the Progressive-era prison reform movement. Morris kept diariesthroughout most of her life, with mentions of prisons helpfully indexed andextracted into a “Journal of Prison Work” covering the first two decades ofher efforts. The “Journal of Prison Work” features a list of nearly fifty prisonsand jails Morris visited, with reports on the physical facilities as well ascomments on the demeanor of guards, administrators, and inmates. Hervisits were concentrated in Philadelphia but ranged across the country fromSan Quentin (California) to Sing Sing (New York) and beyond. These first-hand observations offer glimpses into a wide variety of carceral institutions.Morris was also a prolific letter-writer, and her prison-related missivesare conveniently sorted together. She corresponded with a vast networkranging from local activists and nationally significant reformers to currentinmates. Her letters are rich in discussions of goals and strategy. Her mostextensive correspondence was with Thomas Mott Osborne, a renownedprison activist from New York who counted Morris as a fierce supporter,key collaborator, and trusted confidant.9A highlight of the collection is a series of fourteen cartoons drawn byEastern State Penitentiary inmate Frederick Funk while incarcerated in the1920s (cover image, figs. 1–2).10 There are drawings illustrating the unsani-tary and cruel conditions of prison life, as well as incisive political cartoonsdramatizing the investigations into warden Robert J. McKenty. These5 “Journal of Prison Work,” p. 3, Anna Wharton Morris Papers, FHL.6 Morris spent $94,504.04 between 1916 and 1937. “Journal of Prison Work,” inside cover, AnnaWharton Morris Papers, FHL.7 “Journal of Prison Work,” p. 3, Anna Wharton Morris Papers, FHL.8 “Journal of Prison Work,” p. 12, Anna Wharton Morris Papers, FHL.9 Chamberlain, There Is No Truce, 398.10 Convicts and Ex-convicts file in Prison Reform Correspondence, series 6, Anna Wharton Mor-ris Papers, FHL.PAGE 388................. 19384$ CH10 10-25-19 11:52:44 PSILLUSTRATING PROGRESSIVE-ERA REFORM IN PENNSYLVANIA2019 389Fig. 1: Frederick Funk, “Boast-full Bob’s Defiance,” ca. 1920, Convicts and Ex-convicts correspondence, Anna Wharton Morris Papers, SFHL-RG5-106,Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College (FHL).PAGE 389................. 19384$ CH10 10-25-19 11:53:33 PSCELIA CAUST-ELLENBOGEN390 OctoberFig. 2: Frederick Funk “He is no doctor. He is a ‘Nut’ Doctor,” ca. 1920, Con-victs and Ex-convicts correspondence, Anna Wharton Morris Papers, FHL.remarkable documents provide a unique view on prison reform from theperspective of someone with an intimate understanding of its implications.The Anna Wharton Morris Papers comprises an extraordinary resourcefor understanding the Progressive prison reform movement in Pennsylva-nia. Despite its richness, the collection has scarcely been cited by scholars.The underuse of this incredible source material reminds one of Morris’swords in a 1915 pamphlet: “Let us abandon the outworn method ofsecrecy in prison affairs! Let us take every opportunity to bring them andto keep them openly before the public, so that all may understand the vastwaste of human material that has been practiced.”11Friends Historical Library CELIA CAUST-ELLENBOGENof Swarthmore College11 Anna Wharton Morris, The New Idea in Prison Reform, Friends’ Social Service Series BulletinNo. 14, 10mo 1915, Other Writings and Material on Prison Reform, series 6, Anna Wharton MorrisPapers, FHL.PAGE 390................. 19384$ CH10 10-25-19 11:53:59 PS

Illustrating Progressive-Era Reform In Pennsylvania: The Anna Wharton Morris Papers

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Illustrating Progressive-Era Reform In Pennsylvania: The Anna Wharton Morris Papers

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