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The Edward Sylvester Morse Collection from the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem Edward S Morse (1838-1925) was a great polymath -- notable for his work in natural history, ethnography and art history -- but, perhaps most famous for his work in bringing Japan and the West closer together. He was one of the first Americans to live in Japan -- teaching science at the Imperial University of Tokyo -- and he devoted much of his life to the task of documenting life in Japan before it was transformed by Western modernization. In addition to preserving the household records of a samurai family and many accounts of the tea ceremony, Morse made notes on subjects as diverse as shop signs, fireworks, hairpins, agricultural tools, artists -- studios, music, games, printing, carpentry, the Ainu, gardens, household construction, art and architecture. An accomplished draughtsman, his pencil and ink drawings, enliven his diaries and correspondence and make his papers a pleasure to read. Former title: America Asia and the Pacific.
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