Title Page | Collection Summary | Biographical/Organizational Note | Scope and Content | Arrangement
Biographical Note
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1791, Apr. 27 | Born, Charlestown, Mass. |
| 1799 | Entered Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. |
| 1810 | Graduated Yale College, New Haven, Conn. |
| 1811-1815 | Studied art in England with Washington Allston and attended the Royal Academy of Arts, London, England |
| 1815 | Opened an art studio in Boston but spent much time traveling |
| 1817 | Patented, with brother Sidney E. Morse, a flexible piston pump for fire engines |
| 1818 | Married Lucretia Pickering Walker (died 1825) |
| 1822 | Invented a marble-cutting machine |
| 1823 | Opened an art studio in New York, N.Y. |
| 1826 | Founder and first president, National Academy of Design, New York, N.Y. |
| 1827-1832 | Began study and experiments in electricity and the telegraph |
| 1829-1832 | Traveled, studied, and painted in Europe |
| 1832 | Returned to New York, N.Y. Appointed professor of painting and sculpture, University of the City of New York, New York, N.Y. |
| 1832-1836 | Active in the Native American Party Worked on developing the telegraph |
| 1835 | Published Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States (New York: Leavitt, Lord, & Co. 208 pp.) |
| 1836 | Candidate for mayor of New York on Native American ticket; polled 1,500 votes |
| 1837 | Withdrew from painting to devote attention to inventing Filed for a patent for the telegraph Edited Confessions of a French Catholic Priest (New York: D. Van Nostrand. 255 pp.) |
| 1843 | Congress voted $30,000 for an experimental telegraph line from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Md. |
| 1844 | Sent telegraph message, “What hath God Wrought?” from the Supreme Court chamber in the United States Capitol to Baltimore, Md., on May 24 |
| 1848 | Married Sarah Elizabeth Griswold |
| 1854 | Unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress, Poughkeepsie district, N.Y. |
| 1857-1858 | Served as an electrician for Cyrus W. Field's company in laying the transatlantic telegraph cable |
| 1861 | Cofounded Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. President, National Academy of Design, New York, N.Y. |
| 1869 | Published Examination of the Telegraphic Apparatus and the Processes in Telegraphy (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 166 pp.) |
| 1872, Apr. 2 | Died, New York, N.Y. |