Her Campus, Her Cause Helen Jane Morrison: 1921–2022

by Susan Schmidgall senior director of advancement

Helen Jane Morrison, who passed away in December, was one of the founders of the University of Minnesota Morris and its champion and benefactor for over seven decades. She was among the group of determined local citizens, the West Central Educational Development Association, who, in the late 50s, led a grassroots movement to reinvent the Morris agricultural boarding high school as a public liberal arts university.

In 1960 UMN Morris opened its doors. In Helen Jane’s words, “My husband Ed and I spent countless hours in St. Paul trying to convince the legislature to open another University of Minnesota campus right here in Morris. It was a dream come true when Morris was chosen and UMM opened its door to its first class of students. From the beginning, UMM attracted talented students. It went on to become the great public liberal arts college we know today.”

That dream, of a brighter future for the students who one day would make UMN Morris their home, is Helen Jane’s greatest gift—for the 24,000 (and counting) UMN Morris alumni who live and work around the world, and for Morris and the region.

For more than 70 years, Helen Jane supported and served the University of Minnesota Morris—most recently as honorary co-chair of UMN Morris’s A model for living and learning campaign. She was proud to work with every UMN Morris chancellor and many University of Minnesota presidents.

Helen Jane’s love for UMN Morris and the arts is evident in the rich and enduring Morrison legacy at UMN Morris: the Edward J. and Helen Jane Morrison Performing Arts Center and the performing arts series, originally created by Helen Jane in UMN Morris’s first year; the Edward J. and Helen Jane Morrison Gallery; and, most importantly to Helen Jane, the students.

The first of three Morrison scholarships was awarded in 1965. There are hundreds of Morrison Scholars in the world today, and that number grows every year. Today, those Morrison scholarship recipients are leveraging their liberal arts educations as teachers, business owners, opera singers, engineers, coaches, professors, editors and publishers, counselors, chemists, elected officials, lawyers, doctors, and members of both the military and the clergy.

Through the students, alumni, buildings, and programs of UMN Morris, Ed and Helen Jane’s legacy will live on in perpetuity. “Supporting UMM has given me an amazing opportunity to help build something wonderful from the ground up,” Helen Jane once said. “I have been proud to be part of this now and in the future.”

Gift of Rare Maps

Five rare Nordic antique maps have found a new home at the Rodney A. Briggs Library, thanks to a generous gift to the University of Minnesota Morris by Chancellor Emeritus David C. Johnson this past year. About donating them to UMN Morris, Johnson said, “giving them up was akin to seeing my kids fly away from the nest, but it has to come, and I’m going to say it again and again, I’m so grateful that they will be in a place where they will be loved.” UMN Morris is grateful too. “The gift of the maps is wonderful for Briggs Library, and we are really honored to receive and host them,” said Briggs Library Director Angela Vetsch.

Three of the maps from the collection were personally owned by Johnson. They include Peter de Wit’s 1539 Norvegia and Peirre du Val’s 1530s Danemark, both purchased in Oslo, Norway, in 1966.

Johnson said that when he decided to give his maps to UMN Morris, he wanted to be sure they represented all Nordic nations. So he purchased two additional maps specifically for Briggs Library to complete the map collection. One is an 1806 copy of Herman Moll’s map of Denmark, Sweden, and Suomi Finland, which shows Laplanders engaged in various activities. The other is a map of Iceland drawn by Georgio Carolo Flandro and published in the mid-1600s.

Vetsch commented that hosting the maps at Briggs aligns nicely with the library’s mission of serving students, faculty, and staff, along with the intellectual and cultural needs of the community and west central Minnesota. “We feel [the maps] are an asset to campus and the greater west central community,” said Vetsch. Having them displayed at the library makes them accessible, and she anticipates them being incorporated into future coursework and projects for students.