William James Morgan (February 4, 1917, in New York City – March 19, 2003, in Silver Spring, Maryland) was Senior Historian at the U.S.
He had begun his graduate work at the University of Southern California, but this was interrupted by his recall to active duty for the Korean War.
Initially assigned as a naval officer, Morgan remained there for thirty years, serving as Head, Research Branch, from 1954 to 1982 and appointed additionally as Senior Historian, before he retired in March 1982.
In 1952, he became interested in the officers who had served in the Continental Navy and this led to the publication of his doctoral thesis in 1956 and his first book in 1959, Captains to the Northward.
As he was working on this he came into contact with the manuscript collector and historian William Bell Clark and with Rear Admiral Ernest M. Eller, played a major role in undertaking the Naval Documents of the American Revolution project.