Arthur J. Morris Law Library Special Collections
Arthur J. Morris Law Library580 Massie Road
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
archives@law.virginia.edu
URL: http://archives.law.virginia.edu/
Administrative Information
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was donated to the Law Library by the Virginia Morris Kincaid Foundation in February of 1997 and by Virginia Huschke, grandaughter of Mr. Morris in 2012.
Biographical / Historical
Arthur J. Morris was born in North Carolina in 1881, but grew up in Norfolk, Virginia. His father, a strict Presbyterian, ran a general store for farmers. At sixteen, Arthur suffered an Achilles tendon injury during football practice and spent the next 29 months in a wheelchair, despite numerous operations on his heel. Through much trial and error, he invented a brace that enabled him to walk. In the fall of 1898 Morris entered the University of Virginia, where he studied English literature, moral philosophy, and economics. Having done previous work at a preparatory school, he received his B.A. in June 1899. That school year, he was awarded a handsome gold medal for his debating skills and the Phi Beta Kappa key for academic excellence.
For the next two years, he studied law. In his final year at the University, his father paid an unannounced visit to Charlottesville and caught his son playing poker. His father withdrew further financial assistance for the young man's education. Morris found odd jobs in order to stay in school, until his mother stepped in and agreed to support him through his law graduation in June 1901. He returned to his hometown to begin practicing law.
Early in his career, Morris encountered a number of clients who lacked the collateral they needed to borrow money from banks. If these wage earners could not borrow from family members, they were at the mercy of pawnbrokers or loan sharks. Morris, a firm believer in the solid character and dignity of the working class, loaned his own money to these clients. The experience made him cognizant of the need for a lending institution for middle and lower income workers. He applied to the Virginia Corporation Commission for a charter for such a bank, and received the following reply from its chairman, Judge Robert R. Prentiss:
Dear Arthur: I have carefully considered your application for a charter for your hybrid and mongrel institution. Frankly, I don't know what it is. It isn't a savings bank; it isn't a state or national bank; it isn't a charity. It isn't anything I ever heard of before. Its principles seem sound, however, and its purpose admirable. But the real reason that I am going to grant a charter is because I believe in you.
On April 1, 1910, with $20,000 of his own and a few associates' funds, Morris opened the Morris Plan Bank. Soon there were eleven of these banks enabling the average American, with the "collateral" of earning power and good character, to borrow in order to buy a house, finance a car, or carry the family through a catastrophic illness. Morris found that there were few defaults because most borrowers were thrifty and eager to be debt-free.
It took some effort to convince the big financiers in New York to allow the Morris Plan to go nationwide. Morris later recalled the arguments he employed:
"I told them simply that America's strength was in mass production and the only way to insure mass production was mass consumption. And, like night follows day, we can't have mass consumption without mass credit. And, what's more, mass credit guarantees mass employment. That got them! The only thing I left out, but since have learned, was that mass credit would create a standard of living among Americans unequaled anywhere in the world."
Soon the Morris Plan was adopted by countless other banks. In 1917, he branched out and established credit life insurance.
In his later years, Morris was frequently honored for his enormous impact on life in twentieth‑century America. His simple idea of installment credit, coupled with his faith in the average citizen, helped to improve the standard of living for millions. And from the time of his graduation, Morris maintained close ties with his alma mater from which he received many awards of recognition and appreciation. Near the end of his life he gave a generous donation toward the construction of the law library in the new building at North Grounds. The library, bearing his name, opened in 1974, the year after Morris's death.
Scope and Contents
This collection contains a diplomas, certificates, photographs, newspaper clippings, a gold watch and a gold medal, a scrapbook and many other pieces of memorabilia that belonged to Arthur J. Morris, Class of 1901 and a benefactor of the University of Virginia Law Library.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
- Memorabilia
- Morris, Arthur J., 1881-1973
- Scrapbooks
- photographs
Container List
- Photographs Law Special Collections photographs cabinet
23 snapshots and some portraits of Arthur J. Morris with unidentified peoplePhysical Location: Law Special Collections photographs cabinet 1940-1960?
- Photographs Law School, Basement, Special Collections Storage, Oversized Files Cabinet [Law Oversized Materials]
Morris Testimonial Dinner at the International Club, New YorkPhysical Location: Law School, Basement, Special Collections Storage, Oversized Files Cabinet [Law Oversized Materials] 1948
- Photographs Law Special Collections photographs cabinet
Arthur J. Morris addressing student body of School of Consumer Banking at opening of first resident session August 11, 1952 at University of Virginia1952
This addition consists of two photographs one of Mr. Morris as a young man and a panoramic photograph of the First Morris Plan Bankers Convention that met in Cleveland, Oh. in October 14-16, 1919, the First Check of the Morris Plan Bank of Norfolk [n.d.] and a framed newspaper article: "The man that started it all,"@ Forbes October. 15, 1961.
Gift of Virginia Huschke, grandaughter of Mr. Morris in 2012. T
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Panoramic photograph of the First Morris Plan Bankers Convention that met in Cleveland, Oh. in October 14-16, 1919Physical Location: Special Collections Oversized shelves.
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Framed First Check of the Morris Plan Bank of Norfolk [n.d.]Physical Location: Special Collections oversized shelves.
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"The man that started it all," Forbes, October 15, 1961. Framed article.Physical Location: Special Collections oversized shelves.
This addition to the collection was given to the Law Library in December of 2012 by Virginia Huschke, granddaughter of Mr. Morris. It consists of a few pieces of memorabilia and one photograph. The files were given to Special Collections by Elizabeth Leverage, Director of Trusts, Estates, and Gift Planning, Law School Foundation.
These files were added to existing box 2, all are in one folder.
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Testimonial Dinner in Honor of Arthur J. Morris. February 23, 1948. University Club, New York. Program.Physical Location: Added to box 2
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The Development of Consumer Credit in the United States … a tribute to Arthur J. Morris. A speech given by Mr. Thomas C. Boushall, President of the Bank of Virginia, at the Testimonial Dinner in honor of Arthur J. Morris, University Club, New York, N. Y., February 23, 1948. Washington, D. C., Published by Consumer Bankers Association, [1948].Physical Location: Added to box 2
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The Morris Plan Corporation of America. Annual Report for the year 1955.Physical Location: Added to box 2
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Address by Arthur J. Morris to the Law Graduates, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, June 6, 1957.Physical Location: Added to box 2
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Fifty Years of Consumer Credit and its Potentialities. Address by Arthur J. Morris, Chairman of the Board, Financial General Corporation and Industrial Bank of Commerce at Consumers Bankers Association Annual Convention, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, October 21, 1960.Physical Location: Added to box 2
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Invitation to attend the dedication of the Arthur J. Morris Law Library, November 1974Physical Location: Added to box 2
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Dedication of the University of Virginia Arthur J. Morris Law Library with a Tribute to Frances Farmer, Law Librarian, November 15, 1974. [Autographed dedicated to Virginia Earle Morris Huschke in memory of her grandfather].Physical Location: Added to box 2
- Mixed Materials Law Special Collections photographs cabinet
Photo of Arthur J. Morris with Mamie Eisenhower, when he gave the award for the National Horse Show, n. d.
This addition to the collection was transferred Law Library in December of 2019 by Denise Forster. It consists of a commemorative silver plate given to Arthur J. Morris by the Morris Plan Bank of Knoxville on January 20th 1941. The tray was given to the Law School foundation bt Virginia Huschke, grandaughter of Arthur J. Morris. few pieces of memorabilia and one photograph. The files were given to Special Collections by Elizabeth Leverage, Director of Trusts, Estates, and Gift Planning, Law School Foundation.
Tansferred to the Special Collection in December of 2019.
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Commemorative Silver Tray - "On January 20th, 1941, gratefully presented to Arthur J. Morris, founder of the Morris Plan System of Banking by the Morris Plan Bank of Knoxville on the 25th Anniversary, organized January 7th, 1916"Physical Location: Oversized shelves in Special Collection Reposistory 1941-01-20