Morgan, Anne (1873–1952)

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Morgan, Anne (1873–1952)

American philanthropist and social worker. Born Anne Tracy Morgan in New York City on July 25, 1873; died on January 29, 1952; youngest child of John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913, the financier) and Frances Louisa (Tracy) Morgan; sister of J.P. Morgan (1867–1943); educated in private schools; never married; no children.

Daughter of "robber baron" and philanthropist John Pierpont Morgan and Frances Louisa Morgan , Anne Morgan grew up at her family's country house in Highland Falls, upstate New York. Once described as a "shy girl who did not like society," Morgan made the debutante rounds but remained intensely private. "There was something pathetic about this splendid girl, full of vitality and eagerness," wrote her close friend Elisabeth Marbury , "yet who, as the youngest of a large family had never been allowed to grow up." It was Marbury who introduced Morgan to the world of doers—artists, designers, musicians, actors, singers, and social activists. With Marbury and Florence Jaffray Harriman , Anne Morgan founded and was an early officer of the Colony Club (1903). She also devoted herself to the woman's department of the National Civic Federation. A believer in trade unions, she supported the shirtmakers' strikes in 1909 and 1910.

Some of Morgan's most important work took place in France. In 1912, for her friends Marbury and Elsie de Wolfe , she added a wing to their Versailles villa, Trianon. When World War I broke out, the three friends established a home for the wounded near the villa, staffed by nuns from a nursing order, while Morgan became active in the American Fund for French Wounded. After the war, along with Anne Murray Dike , Morgan founded the American Committee for Devastated France; the group restored homes, shops, churches, and monuments; built barracks for the homeless; provided seed and livestock; established dispensaries, clinics, resthouses, and traveling canteens for soldiers; and provided training for the disabled, along with schools, libraries, camps. Though reserved, Morgan was an inveterate fund raiser, even going so far as to sponsor a lightweight boxing championship match between Benny Leonard and Ritchie Martin, which reaped $20,000 and the indignation of the clergy. Her activities brought her a medal from the National Institute of Social Science in 1915. In 1917, Morgan and Dike were awarded medals by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; they also received the Croix de Guerre with palm. In 1932, France made Morgan a Commander of the Legion of Honor; at that time, she was the only American woman to have received the decoration.

On the eve of World War II, at age 68, Morgan was still going strong and ahead of the game. With the support of General Maurice Gamelin, commander in chief of the French forces, she organized the American Friends of France (Comité Americain de Secours Civil), in 1938. By the time the first wave of Belgian refugees crossed the French border, she and her corps were there. American Friends of France would later merge with Marion Dougherty 's Fighting French Relief to form American Relief for France.