Morris Evans Leeds papers

Morris Evans Leeds (1869-1952) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Barclay R. Leeds and Mary Maule Leeds. He was educated at Westtown School and graduated from Haverford College in 1880. He studied at the University of Berlin from 1892 to 1893. For a brief time, he taught at Westtown, then was employed by Queen & Company. Beginning in 1889 until 1903, Leeds was managing partner in Morris E. Leeds & Co. He became president of Leeds & Northrup in 1903. The company began its operations in 1899, and was joined for a short time by Dr. Northrup, from which it derived its name, Leeds & Northrup. The company made strides not only in the field of precision instruments, but also, under the direction of Leeds, in employee working conditions, relations between employees and management, and amelioration of unemployment. Some of his ideas for these developments came from a study of the Carl Zeiss Stiftung company in Jena, Germany. Leeds's business correspondence, primarily for the years 1950-1952, presents an overall picture of the committees with which he was associated and causes with which he sympathized. In 1926, Leeds married Hadassah J. Moore. They had two daughters. From 1909 to 1952, he was a member of the Corporation and Board of Haverford College, including serving as President of the Board. Leeds was also active on the School Board of Philadelphia and was its president from 1938 to 1948. Morris E. Leeds was interested in botany and was a member of many scientific and cultural societies. He was co-author of Toward Full Employment.