Jack Cassius Morris: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 20:52, 8 April 2025

Jack Cassius Morris (1911-1954) was an American librarian.

Life

Jack Cassius Morris was born on March 3, 1911 in Ten Sleep, Wyoming. He graduated BS in chemistry at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in 1934. From 1930 to 1935 he worked part-time as half-owner of the Nebraska Book Company in Lincoln, then from 1935 to 1938 as owner of the Morris Book Company.

In 1938 Morris enrolled at the University of Illinois library school where he received a BS (1939) and MS (1941) in library science. After working as a reference librarian at the University of Illinois, he became a librarian at the University of South Dakota, 1941 to 1943. Morris next worked from 1943 to 1946 as a patent chemist at the Hercules Powder Company in Wilmington, Delaware, and then, in 1947, in Washington, DC, at the Office of the Rubber Reserve of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and at the Patent Office.

In 1947 he moved to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee, as Chief Librarian of the premier library of the Atomic Energy Commission, where he developed an outstanding technical reports control system. He died aged 44 on September 23, 1954.

Contributions

Under his leadership the ORNL library became a model and influential special library. He challenged Mortimer Taube's Uniterm information retrieval system, believing that subject headings used in a unit card system of application were superior to the Uniterm system.

Publications

Corporate entry guide for report literature at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory Library, 1953.
"Evolution or involution? Notes critical of the Uniterm system of indexing." Journal of cataloging and classification 10 (July 1954): 11-118.
"The duality concept in subject analysis." American documentation 5 (August 1954): 117-146.

Offices

Special Libraries Association. Founder and first president of the Oak Ridge Chapter, 1952-53.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-== Life ==
+'''Jack Cassius Morris''' (1911-1954) was an American librarian.
-Jack Cassius Morris (1911-1954)
-== Relevant Employment ==
-* ORNL Library
+== Life ==
+'''Jack Cassius Morris''' was born on March 3, 1911 in Ten Sleep, Wyoming. He graduated BS in chemistry at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in 1934. From 1930 to 1935 he worked part-time as half-owner of the Nebraska Book Company in Lincoln, then from 1935 to 1938 as owner of the Morris Book Company.
-== Contribution ==
+In 1938 Morris enrolled at the University of Illinois library school where he received a BS (1939) and MS (1941) in library science. After working as a reference librarian at the University of Illinois, he became  a librarian at the University of South Dakota, 1941 to 1943. Morris next worked from 1943 to 1946 as a patent chemist at the  Hercules Powder Company in Wilmington, Delaware, and then, in 1947, in Washington, DC, at the Office of the Rubber Reserve of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and at the Patent Office.
-Morris worked at: Librarian, Univ. SD 1941-43; Patent chemist, Hercules Powder Co. 1943-1946; Chief librarian, ORNL 1947-54. He wrote Corporate Entry Guide for Report Literature at ORNL as well as two important articles on subject analysis. Under his leadership the ORNL library became a model special library. He developed an "outstanding technical reports control system." Morris was responsible for the basic ideas/systems used to catalog the series reports issued by the AEC. He challenged Taube's Uniterm information retrieval system. He believed subject headings used in a unit card system of application were superior to the Uniterm system. He advocated the development of a system combining the best features of unit and marginal punched cards.
-Source: Robert V. Williams, "Morris, Jack Cassius (1911-1954)."  In: Dictionary of American Library Biography, Supplement (Libraries Unlimited, 1990), pp. 84-87.
+In 1947 he moved to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee, as Chief Librarian of the premier library of the Atomic Energy Commission, where he developed an outstanding technical reports control system. He died aged 44 on September 23, 1954.
-== Awards ==
+== Contributions ==
+Under his leadership the ORNL library became a model and influential special library.
+He challenged [[Mortimer Taube]]'s Uniterm information retrieval system, believing that subject headings used in a unit card system of application were superior to the Uniterm system.
+== Publications ==
+*''Corporate entry guide for report literature at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.'' Oak Ridge, TN:  Oak Ridge National Laboratory Library, 1953.
+*"Evolution or involution? Notes critical of the Uniterm system of indexing." ''Journal of cataloging and classification'' 10 (July 1954): 11-118.
+*"The duality concept in subject analysis." ''American documentation'' 5 (August 1954): 117-146.
 == Offices ==
+*[[Special Libraries Association]]. Founder and first president of the Oak Ridge Chapter, 1952-53.
-* SLA Oak Ridge Chapter | Pres., 1952-53
+== Further reading ==
+*Williams, Robert V. "Morris, Jack Cassius (1911-1954)". ''Supplement to the Dictionary of American Library Biography." Ed. by Wayne A. Wiegand. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1990, pp 84-87.
-== Papers ==
+*"Jack Cassius Morris." ''American documentation'' 6, no 1 (Jan 1955):
-'''Location #1'''
+*"Randall, Gordon E, "Necrology: Jack Morris." ''College & research libraries'' 16 (Jan 1955): 105-106. [https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/download/10904/12350]
-* Papers dates:
-* Size:
-* Includes: No papers in existence; based on a 1990 conversation with his wife. See Dictionary of Americal Library Biography; Supplement (Libraries Unlimited, 1990, pp. 84-87.
-* Finding aid:
-* Source: DALB Supplement