Harry Morgan Ayres (October 6, 1881 – November 20, 1948) was a professor of English Literature at Columbia University an author, and editor. He edited The Reader's Dictionary of Authors including entries for Charles William Eliot, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, and George Moore and also contributed to the Library of the World's Best Literature.

The English Journal Volume 13 described The Modern students book of English literature he compiled and wrote with Frederick Morgan Padelford and William David Howe as: "A brave effort to give something of every trope - even letters and a taste of modern critical and biographical prose." The description adds that the selection of early English material is "more adequate" than is usual.

He defended General Dwight Eisenhower's appointment at Columbia pointing to the scholarly quality of his Guidhall speech in London.

He wrote an essay on Modern American Tendencies for The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes.