Morris Gray Lectures: Signature Book

Introduction

Morris Gray graduated from Harvard in 1877. He was an attorney in the Boston area and also served as President of the Museum of Fine Arts. Gray generously supported the the Poetry Room and poetry lectures and readings at Harvard.

Before his death in 1931, The Morris Gray Lecture Fund was established (1929), ensuring that the Harvard Community would continue to enjoy readings and lectures by the most celebrated poets and writers of the day.

As much as the readings have become an honored part of English Department history and tradition, so too has the Morris Gray Signature Book.

The Department of English and American Literature and Language welcomes you to explore this historical collection of signatures through a virtual tour of the book. Entries range from 1939 to the present, including literary greats such as W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Williams Carlos Williams, Robert Penn Warren, Elizabeth Bishop, E.E. Cummings, Adrienne Rich, Robert Creeley, Seamus Heaney, Saul Bellow, Toni Morrison, and many, many more.