J. Michael Morgan English Bible and Psalmody Collection

The J. Michael Morgan English Bible and Psalmody Collection at Pitts Theology Library was established in 2023 to continue the work of J. Michael Morgan, who bequeathed his world-renowned collection of English Bibles and Psalters to the library. Over 50+ years of collecting, Michael had curated one of the world’s most significant private collections of English translations, totaling more than 5,500 volumes, dating from the earliest printed translations of William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale. Included in the Morgan Collection are some of the most influential Bibles in the English language, such as early printings of the Great Bible, the Bishops’ Bible, the Geneva Bible, and the 1611 King James “He” Bible. The collection also contains dozens of rare, independent translations, such as the American Psalter of Cotton Mather, as well as items with unique provenance such as Isaac Watts’s paraphrase of the Psalms with a gift inscription from Watts, Julia Evelina Smith’s translation signed by the translator, and the family Bible of President Franklin Pierce, signed by President Jimmy Carter.

All volumes in the collection are available by request to library patrons, and the Morgan Collection will feature prominently in library programming, including gallery exhibitions, digitization, and teaching. Pitts is honored to be the home of this Bible collection and excited about continuing the work of Michael Morgan, who understood his calling to be not only preserving these treasures, but ensuring they were accessible to the general public.

Pitts also hosts the Morgan Forum, an annual conversation about the past, present, and future of the Bible, which is recorded and made available online.