Louise Morgan (1886?–1964), US born journalist and author, and known for her book Inside Yourself.
Life
Louise Morgan was born in Providence, Rhode Island and educated in the United States at Vassar College. In 1923 she left the US for London. She first did editorial work and wrote for The Outlook, an English political-literary magazine, and was in charge of the Women’s Section. She was an editor of Everyman until it ceased publication in 1933. She joined the News Chronicle as Special Correspondent writing on a wide variety of subjects and was a regular contributor to Good Housekeeping. Her articles focused on health and social welfare issues.[1]
Louise Morgan also acted as a literary agent. She and her second husband, Otto Theis, had a wide circle of literary friends, and were close friends with Nancy Cunard.
Louise Morgan’s long career as a journalist ended in the mid 1950s when she left the News Chronicle, but she continued writing for periodicals until her death in 1964.
Connection with the Alexander Technique
She had lessons with Charles Neil and planned to write a book on his work. However, Neil had not told her that Alexander was still alive. When she discovered that Alexander was still teaching at Ashley Place, she went to Alexander c. 1952 – without telling him of her lessons with Neil – and persuaded Alexander to be interviewed for a book about his work.[2]
Writings
The book Inside Yourself (1954)[3] was reprinted several times, translated into German,[4] and new editions were published in 2010 and 2016.[5] The influence of Charles Neil’s method is apparent in the book.
Her 1955 article in Woman and Beauty, ‘The illusion of beauty’, introduces Alexander’s technique.[6]
She published several other works, Writers at Work (1931), The Ten Point Way to Health (1938), Inside Your Kitchen (1956) – which does contain some passages on the Technique,[7] and Home-Made Wines (1958).
Letters to Louise Morgan
The collection of letters by F. M. Alexander include 64 letters from Alexander to Louise Morgan from 6 July 1952 to 10 February 1955. Most of these concern her manuscript for the book Inside Yourself.[8]
