Only upon his death in 1992, when the contents of his estate were purchased by New York art and antiques dealer Marion Harris, did his artistic creations become more widely known to the general public.
Morton was enrolled at Phillips Exeter Academy and later spent two years, 1928 to 1930, studying at Harvard University.
After dropping out, possibly due to financial hardships brought on by the Great Depression, Bartlett struggled to earn a living.
He passed through a succession of jobs, ranging from crafts magazine editor and gas station attendant to making gift cards and running a printing business.
He had no formal training in sculpture, but by making use of books on anatomy and medical growth charts he was able to create, first in clay and then cast in plaster, at least 15 half-sized likenesses of children (there may have been more but these are the only ones known to remain).
The second came in April 1962 when Yankee Magazine ran a two-page spread of photographs featuring nine of Bartlett's dolls dressed in costumes representing various ethnic heritages.
Forced to relocate from his Bay Village studio on 15 Fayette Street in Boston that he had occupied for more than a decade, he wrapped his dolls in newspaper and packed them away in custom-made wooden boxes.