Anne Tracy Morgan

Anne Tracy Morgan (born July 25, 1873, Highland Falls, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 29, 1952, Mount Kisco, N.Y.) American philanthropist, remembered most for her relief efforts in aid to France during and after World Wars I and II.

Morgan was the daughter of J. Pierpont Morgan and grew up amid the wealth and cultural amenities he had amassed. She was educated privately and traveled frequently. Until her late 20s she passed her time in the social world to which she had been born. Under the tutelage of Elisabeth Marbury she began to broaden her horizons about 1900. In 1903 she joined Marbury, Florence J. Harriman, and others in organizing the Colony Club, New York’s first social club for women. Morgan became active in various organizations devoted to assisting young workingwomen. In 1915 she published The American Girl: Her Education, Her Responsibility, Her Recreation, Her Future.

Early in World War I Morgan established in France the American Fund for French Wounded, and early in 1917 she organized the American Friends for Devastated France, which by the end of World War I had collected and distributed an estimated $5 million in food, medicine, and other war relief; had relocated more than 50,000 French villagers left homeless by war; had built orphanages, kindergartens, and clinics; and had helped restock and reequip farms. As chairman of the organization Morgan carried the burden of its work, and in 1918 she was awarded the Croix de Guerre. (In 1932 she became the first American woman to be appointed a commander of the Legion of Honor.) In 1939 she organized the American Friends of France in anticipation of a new war. She directed the relief work of the group, which had three relief centres ready when war broke out, until she was forced to leave the country in 1940. She returned to supervise postwar relief.