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W. D. Morrison and James Morrison Collection

 Collection
Identifier: WHC-M-1233

Scope and Contents

FULL FINDING AID (PDF)

Historians. Research notes and related materials, many concerning Choctaw and Chickasaw tribal politics, allotment of lands, and Indian participation in the Civil War, gathered by the Morrisons for the purpose of writing a history of Bryan County, Oklahoma.

Dates

  • Creation: 1840-1920

Creator

Restrictions on Access

Available for public access.

Biographical / Historical

Dr. William Brown Morrison was born June 12, 1877, in Lexington, VA. He graduated from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA, and one year later began his teaching at Rockville Academy, Rockville, MD. He then went to Beaumont, TX and had his own school, the Beaumont Classical Academy. He later became principal of Beaumont High School. In 1902 he became Vice-President of Durant Presbyterian College. On December 25, 1902 he married Christine Dorman Barton. In 1904 he moved to Williamson, West Virginia, where he was in charge of the Williamson Presbyterial Academy. Later he was principal of the high school there and at the same time was editor and publisher of the Williamson Enterprise. In 1920 he moved to Durant, OK, and became president of Oklahoma Presbyterian College for girls, a position which he held for 13 years. He resigned to enter the bookstore business. In 1925 he was a member of Southeastern State College faculty in the history department. He had poems published in the Anthology of Poetry by Oklahoma Writers, and among the books he published are Red Man's Trail, An Oklahoman Abroad, Out in Oklahoma, and Military Camps and Forts.He was a charter member of the Durant Lions Club, of which he was president 1 year and secretary 16 years. He was a member of the Masonic Blue Lodge, Knights Templar, Knights of Pythias, and the Woodmen of the World. W. B. Morrison had three sons -- James Davidson Morrison, Lieutenant Ross Morrison, and Lieutenant (jg) William Morrison, and two daughters -- Mrs. Natalie Virginia Denison and Mrs. Elizabeth Chapin Stephany. At the time of his death, which occurred on March 20, 1944, he also had three grandchildren: Gertrude Ann Morrison, William Barton Morrison, Jr., and James Harris Denison. James Davidson Morrison is the son of William Brown Morrison. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma, and in 1951 submitted a thesis on "A Social History of the Choctaws, 1865-1907". He was Dean of Instruction at Southeastern State College in Durant, OK. He was also a history professor at Eastern Oklahoma College in Wilburton

Extent

8 Cubic Feet (8 ft.)

Language of Materials

English

Ownership and Custodial History

Gift of Bea Morrison.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Papers: Source of acquisition--Morrison, B.D. and James Morrison. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1980.

Description rules
Appm
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the Western History Collections Repository

Contact:
630 Parrington Oval
Room 300
Norman Oklahoma 73019 United States