The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Thomas J. Morgan Papers 1892-1939
© 2009 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Morgan, Thomas J. Papers |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1892-1939 |
| Size: | 1 linear foot (2 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Thomas J. Morgan (1847-1912), socialist activist and journalist. Born in England in 1847 and migrated to U.S. in 1869. Active in the machinists labor movement and the Socialist Labor Party. Editor and publisher of The Provoker. Contains correspondence concerning The Provoker, party correspondence, drafts of committee resolutions and statements with which Morgan was associated. Also includes drafts of speeches and articles by Morgan, miscellaneous clippings, journals and publications reflecting Morgan's activities in the Socialist Labor Party and politics in general, as well as Morgan's diverse public welfare interests. |
The collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Morgan, Thomas J. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Thomas John Morgan was born in Birmingham, England, October 27, 1847, the son of Thomas John and Hannah (Simcox) Morgan. Educated at Sunday and evening schools, Morgan worked at the machinist trade during and after his schooling. On January 26, 1868, he married Elizabeth Chambers of Birmingham and in 1869 he and his bride migrated to the United States, where they settled in Chicago. Morgan continued to work as a machinist. Rising quickly in the ranks of the labor movement in his trade, Morgan became President of the Machinists’ Union of Chicago in 1874, the same year that he became a member of the Socialist (Workingman’s) Party. In 1875 Morgan was a delegate to the Chicago Trades Assembly, and four years later he represented the Chicago Trades Assembly before the Legislative Committee of Inquiry into the Conditions of Labor. In the same year (1879) Morgan represented the Socialists of Chicago before a Congressional Committee of Inquiry.
In the years 1877 to 1880 Morgan was active in organizing the Socialist Labor Party. During the same period he prepared Workshop and Factory laws, which he had presented before the Chicago City Council in 1879 and which were adopted by the Council and made a part of the Municipal Code of Chicago. In 1888 Morgan organized the Woman’s Alliance for Protection of Women and Child Workers. In the same year he became editor of the journal Trades Assembly. In conjunction with Mrs. Morgan he prepared a twenty-four page pamphlet concerning Chicago sweat shops, which was published by Trades Assembly in 1891. By that year, Morgan had risen to be chairman of the joint committee of all the labor organizations of Chicago. This position undoubtedly was influential in Morgan’s receiving the Socialist Labor nomination for mayor of Chicago in 1891.
Thomas Morgan was a member of a committee that was instrumental in securing the location of the 1893 World’s Fair at Chicago. After the site had been settled on, he represented the labor organizations of the United States before a Congressional committee at Washington, requesting that the Fair be open on Sundays.
After graduating from the Chicago Law College in 1895, Morgan was examined by the Superior Court of Illinois and admitted to the legal profession. He was chosen to be one of a committee of one hundred selected by the Civic Federation to recommend reforms in Chicago public schools. He became secretary of the National Campaign Committee, Social Democratic Party in 1900, the same year in which he was run as the Party’s nominee for State’s Attorney for Cook County, Illinois.
Morgan was a lecturer at the National Sociologists Convocation held at Lake Bluff, Illinois in 1900, and a delegate to the Socialist National conventions at Indianapolis in 1901 and Chicago in 1904 and 1908. In 1903 he was the Party’s nominee for City Attorney of Chicago, in 1903 and 1907 for judge of the Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois, and in 1909 for United States Senator from Illinois.
Morgan’s offices within the Party itself included Chairman of the Illinois State Campaign Committee, 1904; member of the State Committee and Cook County Executive Committee, 1905; Chairman of the Cook County Central and Executive Committees, 1906; member of the Central and Executive Committees, 1907.
From 1909 until his death, Morgan was editor and publisher of The Provoker, a pocket-sized Socialist weekly. Morgan's other activities included being a member of the Grand Lounge and Deputy Grand Master of the Order of Sons of St. George, Illinois chapter, in 1904. Morgan died December 10, 1912.
The Thomas J. Morgan papers comprise 1 linear foot of material that covers the period 1891-1939. The papers contain correspondence concerning The Provoker, Party correspondence, drafts of committee resolutions and statements with which Morgan was associated. They also include drafts of speeches and articles by Morgan, miscellaneous clippings, journals and publications reflecting Morgan’s activities in the Socialist Labor Party and politics in general, as well as Morgan’s diverse public welfare interests. A list of names of correspondents for the files identified as Party correspondence (Folders 4 to 6) has been compiled.
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Correspondence re The Provoker. Allen through Kirchner |
| Box 1 Folder 2 | Correspondence re The Provoker, Lambrigger through Wheeler |
| Box 1 Folder 3 | The Provoker, Volume II, Nos. 2-26, with some duplicates; Who’s Who and What’s What in the Socialist Party, T. J. Morgan, Serial No. 3, June, 1911. The Provoker, Vol. III, Nos. 23, 26; Galley proof for The Provoker, undated |
| Box 1 Folder 4 | Party Correspondence, A-E
|
| Box 1 Folder 5 | Party Correspondence, F-L
|
| Box 1 Folder 6 | Party Correspondence, M-Y
|
| Box 1 Folder 7 | Correspondence from Mother Jones |
| Box 1 Folder 8 | Draft for defense in libel trial about articles printed in the The Provoker. Resolution and statement of committee bringing charges against Morgan. Letter from Thomas H. Lucas about expulsion of the Minnesota branch of the Socialist Party, dated Dec. 8, 1919. Notes in Morgan’s hand with heading "Spiral 3" |
| Box 1 Folder 9 | One copy of The Inter OceanThe Inter Ocean illustrated supplement, lead article about Samuel Gompers, Sept. 5, 1892. One photograph (reproduction) of Thomas J. Morgan, 2x3. Article by Morgan from the Victoria Times. One copy of Machinists Monthly Journal, February, 1908, contains article by T. J. Morgan, pp. 124-125 |
| Box 1 Folder 10 | Clippings of Morgan’s political activities. Biographical sketch of Morgan, holograph, 1 pg. |
| Box 1 Folder 11 | Notes, for speeches |
| Box 1 Folder 12 | Miscellaneous clippings, articles, and pamphlets about Socialist Party elections, Municipal Socialism in Scotland, diatribes against T. Roosevelt, etc. Notebook containing mss for The Will of the Majority versus the Dues-Paying-System, by C. W. "Cowboy Charley" Stewart (photocopies) |
| Box 1 Folder 13 | Miscellaneous Press clippings. Scholarship certificate from Correspondence School of Patent Law issued to T. J. Morgan, March 27, 1908 (photocopies) |
| Box 1 Folder 14 | Clippings and original manuscripts |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | Clippings, pamphlets, and holograph notes concerning municipal ownership of street rail companies (photocopies) |
| Box 2 Folder 2 | Clippings about McKinley’s assassination, pamphlets about public utilities, single copies of miscellaneous Socialist newspapers: The Christian Socialist, Justice, The Chicago Daily Socialist, The Missouri Socialist, Socialist Party Bulletin. Pamphlet on street railways in Chicago, miscellaneous holograph notes on social matters (photocopies) |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | Copies of miscellaneous Socialist newspapers, including Vol. 1, No. 1 of The Chicago Socialist, July 1912 |
| Box 2 Folder 4 | Miscellaneous Socialist newspapers. Volume IV, No. 6 of The New International, magazine, June 1938, Vol. 4, No. 2 of The Society for the Advancement of Management Journal, Jan., 1939, also Vol. IV, No. 2, March, 1939, and Vol. IV, No. 3, May, 1939 |
| Box 2 Folder 5 | Notebook with clippings concerning Mrs. T. J. Morgan |
| Box 2 Folder 6 | Constitution of the Amnesty Association of Illinois, holograph copy |
| Box 2 Folder 7 | Financial Report for Nov. 1893 of the Treasurer of the Socialist Labor Party of Chicago. Document by T. J. Morgan accepting nomination for mayor of Chicago on the Socialist ticket, March 28, 1891. Newspaper clippings about the nomination |