Margaret Warner Morley
Illustration — Cover of Donkey John of the toy valley. McClurg & Co. 1909 Margaret Warner Morley (February 17, 1858, in Montrose, Iowa – December 12, 1923, in Washington, D.C.) was an American educator, biologist, and author of many children's books on nature and biology.
Also recorded as M. W. Morley · Margaret Morely · Margaret W. Morley
Margaret Warner Morley
This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder. Feel free to use my photos, but please mention me as the author and send me a message. This image is not in the public domain. Please respect the copyright · Public domain
- Born
- 1858 · Montrose.
- Died
- 1923 · Washington and D.C.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- teacher · beekeeper · photographer · illustrator · biologist · writer · artist
- Education
- Hunter College · State University of New York at Oswego · Armour Institute · Marine Biological Laboratory
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Illustration — Cover of Donkey John of the toy valley. McClurg & Co. 1909 Margaret Warner Morley (February 17, 1858, in Montrose, Iowa – December 12, 1923, in Washington, D.C.) was an American educator, biologist, and author of many children's books on nature and biology.
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wikidata · Q6760003 · wikipedia · Margaret Warner Morley
In this article
Biography
Biography
Morley grew up in Brooklyn. She studied at State University of New York at Oswego and Hunter College. She continued her biology education at the Armour Institute (now the Illinois Institute of Technology) in Chicago and at the Woods Hole marine laboratory in Massachusetts. She worked as a teacher and was considered an expert in agriculture and beekeeping. She was most well known for her work as an illustrator, photographer, and author of books on nature. As early as 1890 she visited Tryon, North Carolina with the painter Amelia Watson where she resided in the cottage of playwright William Gillette. She finally acquired her own home in Tryon where she lived for many years. In one of her many trips she went to Europe to the Val Gardena the valley of toy carvers where she was inspired to write the novel Donkey John of the toy valley. A collection of Morley's work is held at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The collection consists of travel logs and sketchbooks of rural North Carolina, and book manuscripts. The North Carolina Museum of History owns a collection of original photographs that Morley donated to the museum in 1914. Morley died on December 12, 1923.
Identity
Identity
Margaret Warner Morley is recorded as teacher, beekeeper, photographer, illustrator and biologist.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1858
Margaret Warner Morley born at Montrose.
1923
Margaret Warner Morley died at Washington, D.C..
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Montrose.
Birth place
Washington and D.C.
Death place
Activity and practice
Margaret Warner Morley is recorded as having studied at Hunter College, State University of New York at Oswego and Armour Institute.
Writings
* • Illustration — Iris art, A Song of Life Song of Life 1891 • Physical culture 1893 • Flowers and Their Friends 1897 • A few familiar flowers: how to love them at home or in school 1897 • Seed babies 1898 • Little Wanderers 1899 • The Honey Makers 1899 • Down north and up along 1900 • Wasps and their ways 1901 • Insect Folk 1903 • Little Mitchell, the Story of a Mountain Squirrel 1904 • The Renewal of Life: How and When to Tell the Story to the Young 1906 • Donkey John of the toy valley. Chicago A. C. McClurg & Co. 1909 • Grasshopper Land 1910 • The Carolina Mountains, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co (1913) • Will o' the wasps 1913 • The Bee People 1914 • the Apple-Tree Sprite 1915
Drawings
Drawings by Morley from the original Val Gardena toys from Donkey John of the Toy Valley:
Literature
Scholarly footprint
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References
Citations
References
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q6760003: Margaret Warner MorleyWikimedia Foundation
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People, houses and institutions
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People, houses and institutions
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Studied at
1- Hunter CollegeOrganisation
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Margaret Warner Morley studied at Hunter College, State University of New York at Oswego, Armour Institute and Marine Biological Laboratory.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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