Polaroid Corporation records, series VII: records related to Meroë Morse

Meroë Marston Morse was a scientist at the Polaroid Corporation and part of Edwin Land's inner circle of confidants. Morse was born in Maine in 1923 to Celeste Osgood and Marston Morse, the renowned mathematician. She grew up in Belmont, Massachusetts and received a bachelors degree in art history from Smith College in 1945. While at Smith, Morse studied under art historian and photography enthusiast Clarence Kennedy, who had close ties to the Polaroid Corporation and its founder Edwin Land. Morse joined Polaroid in June 1945, and was assigned to the vectograph unit, helping to develop Polaroid's three-dimensional light polarizing images. In the fall of 1945, Morse transferred to the SX-70 lab, where she was involved in the research and development of Land's process of instant photography. Though she had no formal training as a scientist, Morse was promoted to manager of black and white photographic research in 1955, and rose to become the director of special photographic research in 1966. She was instrumental in the development of Polaroid's high-speed black and white films, using the diffusion transfer process. She also served as a liaison between Polaroid scientists and its consultant photographers, including Ansel Adams, Marie Cosindas, and Paul Caponigro. Morse corresponded with the consultant photographers regarding film quality experiment testing.

Morse received the outstanding graduate award from Smith College in 1968. Morse held 18 patents for her work at Polaroid and was the first woman elected fellow of the Society of Photographic Scientists and Engineers in 1969.

Meroë Morse died on July 29, 1969 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.