In early February 2026, my husband and I spent the day at Yale University, moving from library to library in pursuit of 200-year-old Morse family history.
Yale has twelve libraries. We visited four.
Sterling Memorial Library
We began at Sterling Memorial Library, the Gothic cathedral of books. The Manuscripts and Archives room opens at 9:00 a.m., and we were there when the doors unlocked.
Two archival boxes were waiting for us: Morse family correspondence. Inside each box were neat rows of legal size manilla folders filled with letters written in the early 1800s.
No glass case. No white gloves. I kept looking around... am I allowed to touch this? Yes! They just let you handle 200-year old original letters with your hands.
The reading room itself is lovely. The wooden tables and chairs felt like they were added to a side chapel of a Gothic church.
Bass Library
From Sterling, we made our way underground through Yale’s tunnel system to Bass Library. (Did I kind of feel like a student? Maybe!)
This was where we viewed an 1806 edition of Geography Made Easy by Jedidiah Morse — Samuel’s father, and at the time, the more famous Morse.
I had imagined a large textbook. Instead, it was small — almost the size of a modern pocket journal — with a delicate fold-out map at the front. Eek! Don't tear it!
When the book was published, Maine wasn’t a state yet. It was still referred to as the “District of Maine.” The book was new when the nation was new. The country itself was still being defined, and the textbook was trying to keep up. The 1806 edition was one of several abridgements.
Beinecke Library
Among the typical Yale Ivy League campus buildings stands this prominent, yet out-of-place mid-century modern cube of a building. But go inside, and WOW.
The Beinecke is open to the public, thank goodness because it is amazing. Inside stands five stories of shelving holding beautiful rare books and manuscripts. Those shelves are enclosed in a huge glass box. The architect was a genius.
The research material I requested from this library didn't pan out, but we were happy just to visit and admire. They also have a Gutenberg Bible on display and original huge Audobon books with lovely illustrations of birds.
Yale Divinity Library
Our final library was the Yale Divinity Library.
Getting in required a few logistical hoops — the public doesn’t simply walk in — but once inside, the effort was worth it.
The Archives room was nothing fancy. Basically a storage room with white walls. It was small, with only two long tables. But the walls were stacked with file boxes and books, as if a major reorganization project was underway. There we viewed Jedidiah Morse’s work on Indian affairs, complete with another fold-out map, as well as additional correspondence between his New England clergy friends.
The main reading room is exactly what you imagine: wood paneling, green-shaded lamps, leather chairs, a creeky staircase to a second floor balcony overlooking the main area, and oil portraits watching from the walls. Students filled those small upper balconies.
By the end of the day, we had handled letters, textbooks, sermons, and maps — all original.
Four libraries. Four different atmospheres. One very full day.
And that was just the setting. The real story was in the letters. The results of my research!
(That’s Part 2.)
