Written by SYBIL SHEARER, the document states a belief in the importance of human biographies – in having the opportunity to look into the lives of other persons – and a belief that human beings are not only the product of heredity and environment, but of individual will, feelings, and thoughts, comprising the individual spirit. The Foundation was envisioned as a way to preserve, document, and share the Morrison and Shearer histories and resources as a an inspiration for other creators in the arts. When Sybil died in 2005, the assets of both artists, including the Morrison residence and the original Sybil Shearer Studio, were allocated to the Morrison-Shearer Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 foundation. A rich cache of archival materials also came to the Foundation. These include MORRISON‘s personal and family papers, hundreds of her masterful portraits of “Great Americans” and others, and an unusual group of photographs documenting rural African-American lives in Kentucky in the 1930s. SHEARER‘s archives include personal and family papers as well as programs, clippings, costumes, and artifacts relating to her career. Hundreds of photographs and films taken by Helen document Sybil’s dances and day-to-day life. In 2019 these archival resources were gifted to institutions where they are preserved and available for research – films at the Chicago Film Archives, and all other materials at the Newberry Library.
