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Guide to the Samuel F. B. (Samuel Finley Brown) Morse Papers,
1911-1969
JL016
JL016
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Table of contents
Title: Samuel F. B. (Samuel Finley Brown) Morse Papers,
Identifier/Call Number: JL016
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
42.5 Linear feet
(4 cartons + 12 volumes)
Date (inclusive): 1911-1969
Abstract: Contains personal correspondence of Samuel Morse, correspondence of the Pacific Improvement Company relating to liquidation
of the company, and a report (12 v.) prepared for the Pacific Improvement Company in 1916, titled, "Iron, Steel, Coal & Coke
on the Pacific Coast." Also includes annual reports of the Pacific Improvement Company.
creator:
Morse, Samuel F. B. (Samuel Finley Brown), 1886-1969
| 1885 July 18 | Born in Newton, Mass. |
| 1903 | Graduated from Phillips Andover Academy. |
| 1907 | Graduated from Yale University. |
| 1907 - 1910 | Manager of a land developnent project for John Nays Haanonci in California. |
| 1910 - 1915 | Manager of Crocker-Huffman Land & Water Co., Merced, Ca. |
| 1915 - 1919 | Secretory and General. Manager of Pacific Improvement Company, liquidation proceedings dragged on and S.F.B. Morse retained this position until 1967. |
| 1919 - 1969 | Organizer, President, part owner (with Herbert Fleishacker) and later Cflairman of the Board of Del Monte Properties Co. |
| 1916 - 1956 | Senior Director of Crocker 1st National Bank. |
| 1916 - 1956 | Other Positions : Advisory Council of Crocker-Anglo National Bank, U. S. Loaning Corp., As5ociate Fellow of Morse College, Yale University. |
| 1916 - 1966 | Clubs : Links, Racquet and Tennis (New York), Pacific-Union, Burlingame Country, Cypress Point (Calif.). |
| 1966 | Awarded LL.D by University of California. |
| 1969, May 11 | Died in Pebble Beach, Calif. |
Collection Scope and Content Summary
The collection (JL 16) itself consists of four large boxes of correspondence and twelve bound volumes of a report that Morse
had made for the Pacifi� Improvement ~ompaiiy just after his appointment (1915-1916). The report is entitled: "Iron, Steel,
Coal ~c Coke on the Pacific Coast." The~ffrat two boxes of correspondence are M0rse ~s own personal files for the years 1923
(Box #1) and 1927 (Box #2). The last box con ama Morse' a copies of Pacific Improvement ~omp~.ny correspondence (1930-1969)
relating to the final liquidation of the Company, of which Stanford University became a 2E 0/0 owner by inheritance.. Other
owners were the University of California at Berkeley (50 %) and the Crocker Estate (25 %).
S.F.B. Morse (1886-1969) was the great grandson and namesake of the inventor of the telegraph. Though his family was from
Boston, he moved out to San Francisco, almost immediately after his graduation from Yale (where he was captain of the football
team) in 1907. He became associated with the Crockers and after making a success of the Crocker-Hoffman Land and Water Company,
which he managed, he was subsequently offered a position managing the Pacific Improvement Company in 1915. Since the heirs
of the original owners of Southern Pacific (Stanford, Crocker, Hopkins, Huntington) had sold out the Railroad they were also
interested in liquidating the Pacific Improvement Co., which had originally been the construction company for the railroad
and had since become a holding company for many various concerns. The liquidation became Morse's job and he expedited about
90 percent of that task in his first five years on the job. However, the remainder of the job dragged on until 1967, almost
fifty years later. Morse's most triumphant personal deal was buying Pacific Improvement Co. land on the Monterey Peninsula
himself. The company that he formed of it in 1919, Del Monte Properties, became his pet and very profitable project because
he developed that land into tremendously valuable resort and private real estate (i.e. Pebble Beach, Cypress Point, etc.).
Gift of Crocker Estate to the Jackson Library of Business in 1970. Transferred to the Department of Special Collections in
1979. The 2nd accession is a gift of Mary Morse Shaw, 1999.
Samuel F. B. (Samuel Finley Brown) Morse Papers. JL016. Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
None.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Del Monte Properties Co.
Morse, Samuel F. B. (Samuel Finley Brown), 1886-1969
Pacific Improvement Company.
Shoup, Paul, 1874-1946
Stanford University
Sterling, J. E. Wallace (John Ewart Wallace), 1906-
Tresidder, Donald Bertrand, 1894-1948
University of California, Berkeley.
Wilbur, Ray L. (Ray Lyman), 1875-1949
Holding Companies--California.
Hotel management--California.
Monterey Peninsula (Calif.)
Real estate development--California.
Reports.