Changes

*''Death: 1925''

*''Death: 1925''

Edward Sylvester Morse was a pioneer in the study of Japanese [[ceramics]] and in their introduction to the West. A native of Maine, he originally traveled to Japan in order to study brachiopods - that is, shellfish - but became fascinated with porcelains and ceramics while there. His collection, which he later donated to the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]], remains today one of the most famous and most extensive collections of Japanese ceramics in the world.

Edward Sylvester Morse was a pioneer in the study of Japanese [[ceramics]] and in their introduction to the West. A native of Maine, he originally traveled to Japan in order to study brachiopods - that is, shellfish - but became fascinated with porcelains and ceramics while there. His collections, which he later sold or donated to the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]] and to the [[Peabody-Essex Museum]] in [[Salem, MA]], remains today one of the most famous and most extensive collections of Japanese ceramics and folk objects in the world.

==Life & Career==

==Life & Career==

During both of his stays in Japan, Morse took extremely extensive notes and journals, the latter alone numbering as many as 3500 pages, from which selections were chosen and published - in two volumes of roughly 450 pages each - under the title ''Japan Day by Day'' in 1917. Morse also published a book entitled ''Japanese Homes and their Surroundings'' in 1885.

During both of his stays in Japan, Morse took extremely extensive notes and journals, the latter alone numbering as many as 3500 pages, from which selections were chosen and published - in two volumes of roughly 450 pages each - under the title ''Japan Day by Day'' in 1917. Morse also published a book entitled ''Japanese Homes and their Surroundings'' in 1885.

For a number of years, the Museum of Fine Arts could not raise the money to purchase Morse's collection, and Morse could not afford to simply donate it. Finally, after fundraising efforts led by [[Denman Waldo Ross]] and others, in 1890-1892, the Museum purchased the collection for $76,000. Morse was named Keeper of Japanese Pottery and was paid a small stipend (a gesture in light of the fact that the Museum did not pay the full $100,000 at which the collection was valued at the time); in 1901, after ten years of work, the Museum published a catalogue of the collection, written/compiled by Morse.

For a number of years, the Museum of Fine Arts could not raise the money to purchase Morse's collection, and Morse could not afford to simply donate it. Finally, after fundraising efforts led by [[Denman Waldo Ross]] and others, in 1890-1892, the Museum purchased the collection of roughly 5,000 ceramic objects for $76,000. Morse was named Keeper of Japanese Pottery and was paid a small stipend (a gesture in light of the fact that the Museum did not pay the full $100,000 at which the collection was valued at the time); in 1901, after ten years of work, the Museum published a catalogue of the collection, written/compiled by Morse. Meanwhile, Morse's collection of roughly 30,000 Japanese objects of everyday material culture became the core of the Japanese collections at the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

==References==

==References==