Item IMC-154 - Scrapbook of black and white photos of orchids in memory of Frank Morris

Gordon S. Berry was a photographer and teacher in Peterborough, ON. He was born in Surrey County, England in 1930. In 1976, Berry mounted a collection of photographs taken by Edward A. Eames, Frank Morris, and Charles Macnamara between ca. 1915 and 1928 in a scrapbook for the Peterborough Field Naturalists.

Francis (Frank) J. A. Morris was a teacher, naturalist, and photographer. He taught at Trinity School, Port Hope, Ontario and Peterborough Collegiate Institute. He wrote “Our Wild Orchids – Trails and Portraits” (New York: Scribner and Sons, 1929) with Edward Eames.

Morris was born in 1869 in a parsonage near the town of Crieff, in Perthshire, Scotland. Living in the country, he developed a passion for nature early in life, and, with his brother, Charles, he investigated the various forms of flora and fauna in the countryside. Morris' father died when he was thirteen, and the family moved to a suburb of London. He studied classics and English literature at Dalwich College in London and continued to make excursions into the country to collect insects with his brother and a friend. Morris developed an interest in Darwin and the theory of evolution through his studies. He continued to study classics and English literature at Balliot College, Oxford. His encounters with Wordsworth's poetry added to his own emotional feelings towards nature.

In 1895, Morris moved to Canada and attended the School of Pedagogy in Toronto. He came under the influence of Dr. William Brodie who introduced him to Canadian natural history. In 1896, Morris joined the staff of Smith's Falls High School. There, the science teacher taught Morris some basic scientific botany and the use of identification keys. In 1899, he returned to Toronto to carry on more pedagogic study. By 1900, he had become the Classics Master at Trinity College School in Port Hope. He spent thirteen years there, during which time he married Miss Elma Walker. In 1911, he attended the University of Toronto to take a Master of Arts Degree and a Specialists Certificate in classics. In 1913, he was appointed to the staff of the Peterborough Collegiate Institute, where he first taught classics and later became head of the English Department. He remained in this position until ill health forced him to retire in 1936.

Morris was a founding member of the Peterborough Field Naturalists (Peterborough Nature Club) from c. 1939. The club named their periodic newsletter “The Orchid” in 1956 in his honour. An article titled "Honouring Frank Morris: A Legacy of Nature and Literature" was published in The Orchid in 2025 (vol. 71, no. 1). Morris died 31 December 1949.