Joseph L. Morrison Papers, c1966-1967

Joseph Lederman Morrison was born on May 28, 1918 in New York City. Morrison graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1940, and taught there for one year. He also served in the Army Air Corps as first lieutenant from 1942-1946. After completing his military service, Morrison went back to Chapel Hill to teach as a professor in the Department of Journalism, where he spent his entire career.

He was a very talented author. His works include: Opportunities in Business Papers (1955); Chapel Hill Guide (1955); Josephus Daniels Says (1962); Josephus Daniels, Small-d Democrat (1966); W. J. Cash, Southern Prophet (1967); and Governor O. Max Gardner (1971). He also wrote for scholarly journals. He also served as an editor for Cantor Publishing and writer for Grolier Encyclopedia International. In addition to his writing career, he was also involved in Raleigh's radio stations WRAL and WPTF.

Morrison first "met" W.J. Cash in 1941 at a presentation at Chapel Hill for aspiring journalists in high school. At that time, Cash was an editor of the Charlotte News and author of "The Mind of the South." Morrison was deeply impressed both by Cash himself as well as his literary works. A mere two months after the presentation, Cash committed suicide while in Mexico with his wife for the Guggenheim fellowship. Morrison was curious about Cash's bitter fate and began to research small bits of biographical data, which eventually "became the nucleus of a systematic search."

In 1946, Pearl Penner and Joseph Morrison married and had two children, Lucy and Peter, to whom his book on W.J. Cash is dedicated. Morrison died on November 11, 1970 and is buried in Durham, North Carolina in Durham Hebrew Cemetery.