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23 Sep 2024

Now at Harvard Business School, “From Concept to Product: Meroë Morse and Polaroid’s Culture of Art and Innovation, 1945–1969”

New Baker Library | Bloomberg Center Exhibition Highlights the Role of Meroë Morse in the Advancement of Instant Photography
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BOSTON—Harvard Business School’s (HBS) Baker Library has opened a new exhibition, “From Concept to Product: Meroë Morse and Polaroid’s Culture of Art and Innovation, 1945–1969,” which draws on the library’s extensive holdings of the Polaroid Corporation Collection to celebrate Meroë Morse, a key contributor to the development of instant photography.

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The universal appeal of instant photography, commercially introduced by the Polaroid Corporation in 1948, fueled the extraordinary growth of the legendary company. Edwin H. Land, Polaroid’s founder, cultivated a creative culture within his research and manufacturing enterprise, building an interdisciplinary community devoted to the technical and artistic excellence of the new photographic medium.

Morse, an art history graduate of Smith College with no background in science or business, became the manager of black-and-white photographic research, director of special photographic research, a trusted advisor to Land, and liaison to Ansel Adams, a Polaroid consultant who tested the company’s prototype cameras and films. Morse embodied the creative ethos underpinning Land’s innovative company, bringing her artistic and scientific sensibilities to the advancement of a photographic medium that would come to have unique cultural and artistic significance.

Baker Library holds one of the world’s most extensive collections on the Polaroid Corporation, capturing nearly every aspect of the firm’s 64-year existence (1937–2001).

“This vast collection of corporate archives, generously donated by Polaroid, documents the history of one of the 20th century’s most innovative American companies,” said Laura Linard, senior director of Baker Library Special Collections. “Following in the footsteps of previous Polaroid exhibits at Baker Library, including ‘At the Intersection of Science and Art: Edwin H. Land and the Polaroid Corporation—the Formative Years,’ and a major project on Ansel Adams’ role as a consultant photographer for Polaroid, this exhibition uncovers the remarkable career of Morse and highlights the contributions of the multidisciplinary team with whom she worked at Polaroid.”

The exhibition was organized by Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, with support from the de Gaspé Beaubien Family Endowment, and will be on display until April 18, 2025 in the North Lobby of Baker Library | Bloomberg Center on the HBS campus in Boston. For more information and to see visiting hours, please visit the Baker Library website.

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