Earl H. Morris personal papers

Earl Halstead Morris, 1889-1956, was an American archaeologist active in Mesoamerica and the United States southwest. Morris led excavations in the field from 1916-1940 for the University of Colorado (CU), American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and the School of American Archaeology (SAA). These excavations lead to the production of 69 publications in the period of 1911-1956 and to the accumulation of extensive museum collections of pottery, stone implements, baskets, sandals, and human remains at the institutions for which he worked. Morris corresponded and collaborated with influential archaeologists, anthropologists, and scientists including Nels Nelson, A. V. Kidder, Jesse Nusbaum, Walter Fewkes, Edgar Hewett, Clark Wissler, A. E. Douglass, Junius Henderson, and Sylvanus G. Morley.

Childhood and family

Morris was born in 1889 in Chama, New Mexico Territory, the only child of Scott Neering Morris, a teamster and construction engineer, and Juliette Amanda Halstead, a teacher. Until the death of Morris' father in 1904, the family moved frequently for economic opportunity, primarily between lumber camps and mining boomtowns in southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico. They occasionally returned to the valley of the San Juan River in northern New Mexico for the winter. Morris' father had an interest in archaeology, collecting pottery and other objects in the vicinity of their winter residences and occasionally selling his collections. He encouraged this interest in young son and also provided Morris with "a good knowledge of practical mechanics and especially of earth moving" which would come to serve in Morris' career. His mother provided him with a well-rounded education despite lack of consistent attendance in school and he graduated as valedictorian of his high school class in Farmington, New Mexico in 1908. With the help of an unnamed benefactor, he matriculated at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the same year.

Early career

While pursuing a bachelor's degree in psychology, Morris made the acquaintance of Junius Henderson, founder of the Museum of Natural History at CU, who would provide Morris with opportunities for pursuing archaeology. In the same period, he also met archaeologist Edgar L. Hewett by chance on a train. Hewett, a well-known archaeologist instrumental in the enactment of the 1906 Antiquities Act, invited Morris to join him on excavation at present-day Bandalier National Monument in 1911. Morris again joined Hewett in 1912 on excavation at Quirigua, Guatemala, this time dropping out of school to do so. In Quirigua Morris made the acquaintance of Sylvanus G. Morley of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Morley would later offer him a position as director of excavations at Chichen Itza. In 1913, University of Colorado Museum founder Junius Henderson secured $300 for Morris to conduct excavations "in the country east of Mesa Verde" adjacent to the La Plata river. Henderson again secured $300 for further excavations in the summer of 1914, a year in which Morris would also return to Quirigua, this time under the supervision of Neil Judd. Morris resumed his education at CU at an undetermined point and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1914 and a master’s degree in 1915.

Morris' early activities impressed recently appointed CU President Livingston Farrand. In 1915, Farrand arranged for Morris to work under the supervision of Nels Nelson, archaeologist with AMNH, in the Galisteo Basin south of Lamy, New Mexico. Nelson was at this time attempting to prove the effectiveness of applying the technique of stratigraphy to the United States Southwest whereby the order and position of archaeological remains are examined to establish a timeline of occupation. The results of Nelson's excavations that summer would prove influential; it was previously thought that sites in the area were not old enough or occupied continuously to a degree that would produce results. This experience most likely had a deep impression on Morris who would, like other southwest archaeologists, turn his career toward the task of establishing a timeline of occupation for the region.

In the same year, as Morris writes, President Farrand "arranged for cooperative field work between the University and the American Museum of Natural History of New York" which would extend through 1916 . As with earlier Morris excavations, this work occurred in the La Plata area -- concentrating on sites 36, 39, and 40 -- and in the area of Goberndador Canyon in San Juan County, New Mexico. Farrand concurrently secured a scholarship for Morris to study at Columbia University. Morris matriculated at Columbia but did not remain for long, however, preferring to take his "first big opportunity" as director of excavation with the American Museum of Natural History at present-day Aztec Ruins National Monument.

Morris worked as director of excavations at Aztec Ruins between 1916 and 1923, excavating the site and restoring its masonry walls. It was at Aztec Ruins that Morris met A. E. Douglass when the latter showed up hoping to examine wood used in the site's construction. Douglass was attempting to establish a reliable dating system based on examination of tree rings, a technique later known as the science of dendrochronology, and Morris was convinced of the importance of Douglass' work. The two would continue to collaborate over the course of their careers.

In 1922 and 1923, in addition to his work at Aztec Ruins, he again took the lead on cooperative excavations between CU and AMNH "in the Navajo country southwest of Mesa Verde" and, more specifically, at Canyon del Muerto. Morris also continued his work in the La Plata area in 1922, this time sponsored only by CU, working at sites 18 and 19.

At the culmination of this period, Morris met Ann McChean Axtell, an archaeologist, illustrator, and graduate of Smith College who had recently studied and worked at the School of Prehistoric Research in France. It appears that Morris was immediately smitten, writing that "an image of the owner of the name [Ann Axtell] floated ever between my eyes and the desert night." Though neither writes of their courtship, they were married in 1923 and spent a field season together at Canyon del Muerto.

Chichen Itza

In 1924 Sylvanus Morley was preparing to excavate and restore portions of the city of Chichen Itza on the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico. Morley offered Morris the position of director of excavations on behalf of the Carnegie Institution and both Ann and Earl moved to the Yucatan the same year. Their work was concentrated on the Temple of the Warriors and, below it, the Chacmool Temple. The excavation of the latter structure was particularly daunting. A. V. Kidder, archaeologist at the Peabody Insitute at Harvard University, writes of the excavation of Chacmool Temple: "I was at Chichen at the time. I could not see how on earth this could be done. But it offered just the sort of challenge that Earl loved...". Ann, Earl, and illustrator Jean Charlot published a book in 1931, Temple of Warriors, which describes their findings for a popular audience.

During the summers of this period, Earl returned to the southwestern United States to work at Canyon de Chelly, sites near Shiprock, New Mexico, the Mimbres valley in Grant County, New Meixco, Kawaika-A on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona, and at various basketmaker sites near Durango, Colorado.

Return to southwest

Earl remained in his position at Chichen Itza until 1929 when he left to return to southwest archaeology full time. Over the course of the next 11 years, Morris was sponsored by AMNH, CU, and the Carnegie Institution, sometimes jointly, to conduct excavations in the La Plata valley, Canyon de Chelly including Canyon del Muerto, at basketmaker sites near Durango, and sites in the area of Gobernador Canyon. Through these excavations, he sought to build the body of evidence for establishing distinct chronological periods in the history of the southwest. His monumental work, Archaeological Studies in the La Plata District, presents many of his findings.

During this period Morris also oversaw several restoration projects. In 1932, working on behalf of the Carnegie Institution, he restored and shored up the tower at Mummy Cave, Canyon del Muerto. In 1933, the director of the National Parks Service requested that the Carnegie Institution loan Morris' time and expertise to work on the reconstruction of the Great Kiva at Aztec Ruins National Monument and repair several structures in Mesa Verde National Park. The work at Aztec Ruins was completed in October of 1934 and serves as the centerpiece for visitors to Aztec Ruins National Monument.

Later Life

Morris did not participate in any extended excavations between 1941 and his death in 1956. In Boulder, Colorado, he lived a relatively sedentary life due to health problems, family responsibilities, and labor shortages caused by the onset of WWII. He continued to publish extensively in this period, completing 25 books and articles including an extensive work, Basket Maker II Sites near Durango, Colorado with Robert F. Burgh. His accomplishments were celebrated in this time period with Morris receiving significant honors: in 1942, he received an honorary doctorate from CU and in 1953 he received the Alfred Vincent Kidder medal for achievement in southwest and Mesoamerican archaeology.

Ann Axtell Morris passed away in 1945. Earl subsequently remarried to Lucile Bowman, a teacher in Boulder. At his death in 1956, Earl was survived by Lucile and his two daughters with Ann, Elizabeth Ann Morris and Sarah Lane Morris.

Works consulted

Kidder, A. V. (1957). Earl Halstead Morris. American Antiquity, 12(3), 390-397.
Lange, F. W. and Leonard, D. (eds.). (1985). Among ancient ruins: The legacy of Earl H. Morris. Johnson Books.
Lister, F. C. and Lister, R. H. (1968). Earl Morris and southwestern archaeology. The University of New Mexico Press.
Lister, R. H. and Lister, F. C. (1990). Aztec Ruins National Monument: Administrative history of an archaeological preserve. Southwest Cultural Resources Center professional papers no. 24.
Morris, A. A. (1933). Digging in the southwest. Cadmus Books. Morris, E. A. (1956). A Bibliography of Earl H. Morris. Southwestern Lore, 22(3), 40-43. Morris, E. A. (2000). Morris, Earl Halstead. In American National Biography. https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1400784 Morris, E. H. (undated.) My sixty years in archaeology. EHM05_001_001 in the Earl H. Morris papers, University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. Morris, E. H. (1932). Biographical material prepared for Scribner’s. EHM05_001_002 in the Earl H. Morris papers, University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. Rodeck, H. G. (1956). Earl Morris and the University of Colorado Museum. Southwestern Lore, 22(3), 32-39.