The Morris Family papers document the Salisbury, Maryland residents who lived at 533 South Division Street and owned and operated the Morris Millwork Company. Photographic prints and funeral ephemera document the relationships of Levin Merrill Morris, his wife, S. Martha and their daughter, Dorothy Catherine, 1890-1955. Additionally, handwritten notes on family birth, marriage and death records have been maintained, this includes an 1864 Evidence of Title for Richard Morris of the US Colored Troop. Dorothy’s friendships with her college classmates are documented in a scrapbook she compiled while at Temple University as well as in The Tatler, the yearbook of Wicomico High School.

Deeply rooted in Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the Morris Family has been a cohesive unit of importance in Somerset and Wicomico counties since the 18th century. Levin Merrill Morris, (1878-1946) was the owner and operator of Morris Millwork Company where they conducted general millwork practices. Levin married the former Sarah Martha Riggin (1883-1959) in 1907 at Wicomico Presbyterian Church; they lived at 533 South Division Street. Their daughter, Dorothy Catherine Morris, (1908-1985), was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, and received her bachelor of arts in Education from Temple University. After her father’s death, she ran Morris Millwork Company until it was sold to E.S. Adkins Company in 1960. Friends of Dorothy’s, J. Paul Mosteller (1905-1998) and his wife, Alice C. (1906-1994) from Temple University, ran a department store, Mosteller’s in West Chester, Pennsylvania.   

The materials in this collection relate to the Morris family of Somerset and Wicomico Counties, Maryland, whose descendants date to the 18th century. The papers include birth, marriage and death records, photographic prints, Wicomico High School yearbooks, a scrapbook from Temple University, and Salisbury, Maryland city directories, spanning 1841-1986. Additional materials include newspapers, periodicals, and published books. Some of the subjects found within this collection include family history, education, and business production on the Eastern Shore. 

Materials were originally maintained in the Thomas Pollitt desk and bookcase by Dorothy C. Morris who is the first cousin once removed of the donor, L. Paul Morris. The desk was bequeathed to L. Paul Morris’s father, Louis in 1986. Upon receipt of the materials, donor requested that materials be maintained as a collective unit.

Folders are listed by their location in each box; any given subject may be dispersed throughout the entirety of the collection.