Archives Archives Image Welcome The Archives serves the Morris education, development, horticulture, and marketing staff, and is also open to qualified researchers by appointment. It is run by a dedicated team of volunteers within the Education Department. Image Scope The Morris Arboretum & Gardens Archives was established in 1987 to acquire, conserve, and catalog one-of-a-kind documents, letters, maps, architectural blueprints, landscape drawings, financial ledgers, diaries, lantern slides, photos, and negatives. Historic books, newspapers, research material, reports, and artifacts are also cataloged at the Arboretum. Additionally, from 1932 to present, the Archives houses records of the Morris Advisory Board, faculty and staff, grant and project reports, blueprints, landscape drawings, slides and photographs. Image Online Collections Our online collections include documents from different eras of the Morris, historic photos, lantern slides, objects, blueprints, and text. New images are added regularly. Historic Photos Private Estate 1887-1932 University Era 1933-1974 Public Garden - After 1974 Maps Arboretum Voices Finding Aids Visiting the Archives Hours are by appointment. To arrange a visit, please contact us . Additional Information for Researchers or History Buffs The Morris Arboretum Bulletin , published monthly from 1935 to the 1970s, is available online at Biodiversity Heritage Library. Learn more . The Morris Family of Philadelphia, Descendants of Anthony Morris, by Robert C. Moon, MD, Five volumes, 1898.  Learn more . Finding aids for several Morris collections are online at Philadelphia Area Archives, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested keyword searches are “Morris Arboretum,” “Morris Family Papers,” “Thompson Family Papers.” Learn more . The John and Lydia Morris Travel Albums 1881-1906 are at the Hagley Library and Archives.  Learn more . The William Henry Russell collection of Morris family papers, including papers from the …

About the Archives About the Archives Image The Archives serves the Arboretum education, development, horticulture, and marketing staff, and is also open to qualified researchers by appointment. It is staffed by an archivist and a team of dedicated volunteers. Scope The Morris Arboretum Archives was established in 1987 to acquire, conserve, and catalog one-of-a-kind documents, letters, maps, architectural blueprints, landscape drawings, financial ledgers, diaries, lantern slides, photos, and negatives. Historic books, newspapers, research material, reports, and artifacts are also cataloged at the Arboretum. The archives collection includes roughly 100 cubic feet of paper archives and manuscripts, 12,000 images, including photographs, drawings, prints, lantern slides and other visual materials and 10 cubic feet of memorabilia and other objects. After 1932, the botanic gardens owned by Penn became known as the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania. Since 1932, architectural blueprints, landscape drawings, lantern slides, negatives and photographs by the botanists and visitors at the gardens are housed here. Numerous papers about that period and about the staff, the plants, and the garden features are also in the Archives. Visiting the Archives Hours are by appointment. To arrange a visit, please contact us .  Additional Information for Researchers or History Buffs The Morris Family of Philadelphia, Descendants of Anthony Morris, by Robert C. Moon, MD, Five volumes, 1898.  Learn more » A geneaology of the ancestors and cousins of John Thompson Morris and Lydia Thompson Morris may be found online.  Learn More » Finding aids for five of our collections are found on the Philadelphia Area Special Collections and Libraries (PACSCL) website as a result of a grant to the Hidden Collections Initiative/Small project at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania from the Mellon Foundation..  Learn More » The John T. Morris Travel Albums 1881-1906 are at the Hagley …

Public Garden - After 1974 Public Garden - After 1974 Image Collections: Public Garden — After 1974 Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania Records The 1970s was a time of considerable change for the Arboretum, set in motion when Dr. F. Otto Haas assumed the position of Chair of the Advisory Board in 1972. During his tenure as Chair, the University granted the Arboretum more freedom as a university-wide “Resource Center” and the Board began to play a more active role. In 1977, Dr. William M. Klein, Jr., an experienced botanical garden administrator, was named the Arboretum’s first full-time Director. Eight months after his Image Planning the Arboretum: Director William Klein with Colin and Carole Franklin of Andropogon Association, 1976. appointment, Dr. Klein and the Board, under the guidance of Dr. Haas, launched a comprehensive renewal program in tandem with the University’s institution-wide plan for the 1980s. The stated goal of the renewal program was to “renew and endow the Arboretum’s most precious assets and to develop a standard of excellence for those features that are fundamental to its original design and purpose as a university and public institution, as set forth by Lydia T. Morris in 1932” ( Morris Arboretum Newsletter , March-April 1978). One of the operational changes at the Arboretum was assigning horticultural staff to specific areas of responsibility rather than serving on roving crews across the entire grounds—a plan still being implemented today. Another change, led by then-Curator Paul Meyer, was implementation of a comprehensive policy for collection of shrubs and trees, also still being implemented. A third change was increased emphasis on educational programs utilizing the resources of the Arboretum. By the end of the 1970s, the Arboretum had taken the significant steps toward renewal, with the support of grants and in partnership with the landscape planning firm, Andropogon Associates. This partnership has continued with …

University Era 1933-1974 University Era 1933-1974 Image Collections: University Era - 1933-1974 Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania Records   Arboretum Directors, 1933-1974 Dr. Rodney H. True, 1933 – 1939 Dr. Jacob R. Schramm, 1939 – 1954 Dr. John M. Fogg, Jr., 1954 – 1967 Dr. A. Orville Dahl, 1967 – 1970 Dr. Hui-Lin Li , 1971 – 1974   …

Four Generations Connect with the Morris Four generations of the Lisi family have a connection with Morris Arboretum & Gardens Walk along the path near the Two Lines sculpture at the top of the hill at Morris Arboretum & Gardens and you will see an interpretive sign with a photograph of a group of men in white lab coats. One of those men is a young University of Pennsylvania botany student, Alfred Lisi. Image The Compton kitchen as laboratory with Penn botany professor Dr. Harlan York (left), Alfred Lisi, and two students studying forest pathology. Lisi was a researcher studying mycology in 1933 when the photograph featuring him—his hair neatly combed, his gloved hands placing tools into an autoclave—was taken in the kitchen of the Compton mansion, which was then used as a lab. He met his future wife, Flora Fender, at Penn while she, too, was studying botany. They traveled together as students in the Morris Arboretum bus to collect plants, and their connection with the Morris continued for decades. In the 1950s, Alfred and Flora would travel to the Morris with their three young children from their home in Brewerytown. Louise and her sister Carol played under the weeping European beech, and their brother George reveled in running through the gardens. Louise, a retired pediatrician, remembers performing plays with her sister on the steps inside the Compton mansion. In 1999, the family celebrated Alfred and Flora’s 60th wedding anniversary with a picnic in the gardens. “He loved coming here,” Louise said of her father. “He would talk about how wonderful the Morris Arboretum was.” A FAMILY LEGACY Image Back row, left to right: Rebecca Froom, Alec Aman, Louise Lisi, and Elizabeth Froom (holding Louise's grandson Benji). Grandson Micah is in the stroller, with Burt Froom next to him. That love for the Morris continued with Louise and her husband, Rev. Burton “Burt” Froom, who often brought their daughters, Elizabeth and Rebecca. When their  three grandchildren were born, …

Lecture Series Lecture Series Image The Morris Arboretum & Gardens Lecture Series brings together expert voices to explore ideas that connect people, plants, and the natural world. Through conversations, talks, and presentations, participants can engage with new perspectives and current research. Offered throughout the year, lectures create space to learn, reflect, and connect with others in a welcoming setting. Endowed Lectures An annual series of lectures held from late fall to early spring that explore a wide variety of fascinating topics. Lectures are supported in part by the Klein Lecture Endowment given in memory of Dr. William M. Klein, who served from 1977 to 1990 as the Morris’s first full-time director; the Laura L. Barnes Lecture Endowment of the Philadelphia Foundation, given in memory of Laura Barnes by students and alumni of her school of horticulture; and the Byron Lukens Lecture Endowment, given in memory of educator and Morris volunteer Byron Lukens and his wife Elizabeth. …