Linda Morgan, later known as Linda Hardberger, is an American museum curator, author, and arts administrator who became internationally known as the “miracle girl” after surviving the 1956 collision of the Andrea Doria and Stockholm. She later helped develop San Antonio’s Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts and co-authored a history of stage design.
Background
Linda Morgan was born in Mexico City in 1942 to Edward P. Morgan, a United Press International correspondent and later prominent radio and television commentator, and Jane Cianfarra. Her family’s work in international journalism brought her childhood connections with Mexico, Italy, and Spain; she came to the United States as a teenager to attend boarding school.
On July 25, 1956, fourteen-year-old Morgan was traveling from Spain to the United States aboard the Italian liner Andrea Doria with her mother, stepfather Camille Cianfarra, and eight-year-old half-sister Joan Cianfarra. When the Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish liner Stockholm in dense fog off Nantucket, the Stockholm’s bow struck the section of the Andrea Doria where Morgan was sleeping. She was lifted from her bed onto the damaged bow of the Stockholm and survived with a broken arm, while her stepfather and half-sister died and her mother was seriously injured.
Career
Morgan became internationally known after the Andrea Doria–Stockholm collision of July 25, 1956. A Spanish-speaking Stockholm crewman found her on the ship’s damaged bow after hearing her call for her mother in Spanish. She was taken to New York aboard the Stockholm and treated at St. Vincent’s Hospital, where her broken arm was placed in traction. News reports soon called her the “miracle girl,” while her father’s broadcasts brought national attention to the personal dimension of the disaster.
After moving to San Antonio in 1970, Morgan developed a professional career in museum and theatre-arts curation. She became the founding curator of the Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts at the McNay Art Museum, a collection devoted to the history of theatrical design and technology. The McNay, founded through Marion Koogler McNay’s bequest of her home and art collection, became the San Antonio setting for the Tobin collection and its exhibitions, publications, and educational programs.
Morgan later served as curator and administrator for the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund. The fund supports the exhibition, maintenance, interpretation, and public access of the Tobin theatre-arts collection, including programs concerning scenic and costume design. She was also a co-author of Making the Scene: A History of Stage Design and Technology in Europe and the United States, published in 2010 with Oscar G. Brockett and Margaret A. Mitchell.
Morgan became internationally recognized as the “miracle girl” after surviving the July 25, 1956, collision of the Andrea Doria and Stockholm. The Stockholm’s bow lifted her from her bed aboard the Andrea Doria and carried her to safety on the damaged ship, an extraordinary survival that became one of the defining human stories of the disaster.
As founding curator of the Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts at the McNay Art Museum, Morgan helped establish public access to a major collection of theatrical models, scenic and costume designs, books, and related historical materials.
(Co-authored with Oscar G. Brockett and Margaret A. Mitche...)
2010
Personality
Morgan has described the Andrea Doria disaster as an experience she preferred not to revisit publicly. She has also spoken about becoming more cautious physically while remaining adventurous in intellectual and cultural pursuits.
Physical Characteristics:
She suffered a broken arm in the 1956 collision and was treated in traction at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York.
Quotes from others about the person
The news media called Morgan the “miracle girl” after she survived the Andrea Doria–Stockholm collision. Her survival was described in contemporary accounts as one of the most extraordinary human stories arising from the disaster.
Interests
Morgan has maintained an interest in art, theatre history, museum collections, and boating. She and Phil Hardberger have taken extended boating trips, including voyages along the Maine coast.
Connections
Morgan was the daughter of Edward P. Morgan, an American broadcast journalist and commentator whose reporting career included ABC radio and television. During the Andrea Doria disaster, he reported the collision without initially revealing that his daughter was believed to be aboard the stricken ship; after learning that she had survived, he delivered an emotional broadcast about the difference between reporting strangers’ tragedies and facing danger involving his own family.
Morgan married Phil Hardberger in 1968. Hardberger was a lawyer, judge, former associate and chief justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals of Texas, and mayor of San Antonio from 2005 to 2009. The couple has two daughters. Morgan’s mother was Jane Cianfarra, and her stepfather was Camille Cianfarra, a New York Times correspondent. Her half-sister Joan Cianfarra died in the Andrea Doria collision.
Father:
Edward P. Morgan
American radio and television news commentator and journalist who worked for ABC and reported on the Andrea Doria disaster.
Mother:
Jane Cianfarra
Survivor of the Andrea Doria collision who was seriously injured in the disaster.
stepfather:
Camille Cianfarra
New York Times correspondent who died in the Andrea Doria collision.
Sister:
Joan Cianfarra
Morgan’s eight-year-old half-sister, who died in the Andrea Doria collision.
husband:
Phil Hardberger
Lawyer, judge, chief justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals of Texas, and mayor of San Antonio from 2005 to 2009.
Daughter:
Amy Hardberger
Environmental law scholar and professor.
References
Making the Scene — University of Texas Press
Publisher page documenting Morgan’s co-authorship, her role as founding curator of the Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts, and the book’s subject, publication date, and contents.
Future Tense: Linda Hardberger
Profile describing Morgan’s international childhood, her survival of the Andrea Doria disaster, her museum career, and her life in San Antonio.
Edward Morgan
Reference entry about Edward P. Morgan that documents his journalism career and his daughter Linda’s survival of the Andrea Doria collision.
