Guide to the Papers of James Brown (1761-1834) , 1773-1834


Rhode Island Historical Society
121 Hope Street
Providence, RI 02906
Tel: 401-273-8107
Fax: 401-751-7930
email: reference@rihs.org

Published in 2009

Collection Overview

Title: Papers of James Brown (1761-1834)
Date range: 1773-1834
Creator: James Brown (1761-1834)
Extent: 2.5 linear feet
Abstract: The personal papers of James Brown, the son of John (1736-1803) and Sarah (Smith) Brown (1738-1825), who was born on September 22, 1761 and died December 12, 1834.
Language of materials: English
Repository: Rhode Island Historical Society
Collection number: MSS 310

Scope & content

This collection contains the personal correspondence, both sent and received of James Brown. The papers date from 1773 to 1834 with the bulk of the material falling between 1773 - 1806. The correspondence is mainly with family and friends, recording travel descriptions and family concerns. The collection also contains dairies and personal accounting records.

The accounts document his personal expenses, but also include some invoices from merchants, an inventory of his personal library, eyewitness accounts of important events such as the Providence Fire of 1801, meteorological records, and a ciphering book of mathematical lessons.

The collection has been arranged in chronological order and described in three series under, Correspondence, Diaries and Accounting Records.

See Also: Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscript Collection MSS 312 Papers of John Brown

Access Points

Subject Names Subject Organizations Subject Topics Geographical Names Subject Topics

Arrangement

  • Series I: Correspondence
  • Series II: Diaries
  • Series III: Accounting Records

Historical note

James Brown, the son of John (1736-1803) and Sarah (Smith) Brown (1738-1825), was born on September 22, 1761. Educated at Harvard University he graduated in 1780. In 1789 he was elected a member of the Board of Fellows of Brown University, and regularly attended meetings until his death.

Son of the highly successful businessman, John Brown of Providence, James did not have his father’s drive for business pursuits. He “[had] no relish for active pursuits [and] never engaged in any business” as a handwritten draft for an obituary put it. It continues “his ample patrimony he did not care to expose to the hazards of trade, and to his credit be it added he squandered no part of it upon expensive or corrupting pleasures.”

James Brown was interested in books and travel, and lived the life of a gentleman of leisure, despite efforts of his father to involve him in the family business. He kept records of expenses and diaries of his travels and social activities, often in the empty pages of pocket Almanacs. He never married, and was devoted to his family, writing frequently to his sister and brother-in-law John Francis. He died on December 12, 1834.

Access & Use

Access to the collection: There are no restrictions on access.
Use of the materials: Researchers are advised that express written permission to reproduce, quote, or otherwise publish any portion or extract from this collection must be obtained from the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Preferred citation: Papers of James Brown (1761-1834), MSS 310, Rhode Island Historical Society.
Contact information: Rhode Island Historical Society
121 Hope Street
Providence, RI 02906
Tel: 401-273-8107
Fax: 401-751-7930
email: reference@rihs.org

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION  
Acquisition:
Processing information: The collection was originally processed by Nathaniel Shipton in 1976. The John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization at Brown University, in partnership with the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University and the Rhode Island Historical Society, conducted a two year collaborative project starting in 1995 to arrange, describe and catalog records relating to the Brown family of Providence, Rhode Island. The Brown Family Papers Project was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The diaries from this collection are available on microfilm as a part of: Schipper, Martin P, comp., A guide to the microfilm edition of Papers of the American Slave Trade. Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 2001.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID  
Author: Finding aid prepared by Nathaniel Shipton.
Encoding: Finding aid encoded by Mark Chepkwony 2009 June 23
Descriptive rules: Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Inventory

Series I.
Contains letters sent and received by James Brown from family and friends. There are descriptions of places James Brown visited, people he dined with, clothes people wore, and family gossip with his sisters. There is an interesting letter from his brother-in-law, John Francis, describing Congress, which was in session in Philadelphia in 1790. Several letters in 1791 describe the death of his uncle, Nicholas Brown, and family responses to the death. There is a letter written by James while on business for his father where he describes the City of Baltimore in good detail. There is also a business letter concerning the rebuilding of the Washington Bridge written in 1807. The following list is an index of all the correspondents.

  • Bethune, Nathaniel - Letter 26
  • Brown, Avis - Letter 10
  • Brown, Benjamin (1763-1773) - Letter 1
  • Dickerson, Charles - Letter 31
  • Dickins, E. - Letter 25
  • Francis, Abigail (Brown) (1766-1821) - Letter 7, 22, 28, 36a
  • Francis, John (1763-1796) - Letter 8, 9, 14, 21
  • Francis, Thomas - Letter 23
  • Francis, Thomas W. - Letter 27, 29
  • Herreshoff, Charles F. (1763-1819) - Letter 42
  • Herreshoff, Julia L. (1811-1901) - Letter 38
  • Herreshoff, Sarah B. (1773-1846) - Letter 2, 3, 6, 11, 13, 18, 30, 40
  • Herreshoff, John B. (1805-1861) - Letter 34a
  • Malbone, Francis (1759-1809) - Letter 24
  • Mason, Amasa - Letter 39
  • Mason, Daniel - Letter 15
  • Otis, Harrison G. (1765-1848) - Letter 17
  • St. Cecilia Society - Letter 20
  • Washington Bridge - Letter 36
  • Watson, Elkanah - Letter 36c
  • Willing, Thomas M. - Letter 16

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 1 Letters 1-10
 20 February 1773 - [June] 1791
Box 1, Folder 2 Letters 11-20
 3 January 1791- 23 January 1794
Box 1, Folder 3 Letters 21-30
 25 February 1794 - 15 January 1802
Box 1, Folder 4 Letters 31-42
 16 November 1804 - 1834

Series II. Diaries
Consists of James Brown’s diaries which often describe his travels while on business for his father, John. Of note in his diary of 1801 is a detailed description of the fire which burned much of Providence that year.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 5 Ciphering Book,
 c.1775-1780
Box 1, Folder 8 Diary entries, in Almanac of 1788
 1787-1789
Box 1, Folder 11 Memorandum and Diary Entries, in the almanac of 1791
 1791
Box 1, Folder 12 Memorandum and Diary Entries
 1791 -1793
Box 1, Folder 13 Diary entries
 1794
Box 1, Folder 15 Diary entries
 1799
Box 1, Folder 16 Memorandum and diary entries
1799-1830
Box 1, Folder 17 Diary and Memoranda Book
 1800, 1803, 1804, 1831
Box 2, Folder 1 Diary
 1801
Box 2, Folder 2 Transcriptions of diary entries, loose diary entry
 1801-1803
Box 2, Folder 5 Thermometer readings, meteorological observations and diary entries
 1805-1806
Box 2, Folder 8 Diary Entries
 1815-1818
Box 2, Folder 11 Diary entries in front of almanac of 1822
 1822
Box 2, Folder 16 Diary Entries: James Brown’s tour of Niagara [Falls]
 1827
Box 2, Folder 18 Diary Entries, loose folios
 1831
Box 2, Folder 19 “Certificate for Industry”, to Abby Mason from H. Swan’s and H. Rose’s School, Medford, undated
Box 2, Folder 20 Diary entry, undated
Box 2, Folder 21 “Account of Chad Brown and his Descendants” copied by Abby Mason, undated.
Box 2, Folder 22 Memorandum and diary entries in the "Massachusetts Register and United States Calandar" of 1813
 1813

Series III. ACCOUNTING RECORDS
The account records in this Series document James Brown’s personal expenditures. The Cash Account Book from 1823-1830 has an additional ten pages of genealogical information (mainly birth and death dates) for the ancestors of Chad Brown. There are also several books recording thermometer readings and other meteorological information.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 6 Memorandum Book, in Pocket Almanac of 1783
 1783
Box 1, Folder 7 Memorandum Book
 1782-1823
Box 1x, Folder 1 Book invoices and catalog, (Item 5b)
 1784 Oct 12
Box 1, Folder 9 Memorandum Book
 1788-1789
Box 1, Folder 10 Memorandum Book in Almanac of 1797
 1789-1799
Box 1, Folder 11 Memorandum and Diary Entries, in the almanac of 1791
 1791
Box 1, Folder 12 Memorandum and Diary Entries
 1791-1793
Box 1, Folder 14 Memorandum entries for 1798 in Almanac of 1798
 1798
Box 1, Folder 17 Diary and Memoranda Book
 1800, 1803, 1804, 1831
Box 1x, Folder 3 Meteorological Records
 1803-1804, 1819-1820, 1829-1832
Box 1x, Folder 2 Deed, Charles Dickerson to James Brown (Item 31)
 1804 Nov 10
Box 2, Folder 3 Memorandum Entries, in Almanac of 1804
 1804
Box 2, Folder 4 Memorandum and Daily Account Entries
 1805
Box 2, Folder 5 Thermometer readings, meteorological observations and diary entries
 1805-1806
Box 2, Folder 6 Account Book 1808, and loose account folios for 1806
 1806,1808
Box 2, Folder 7 Cash Account Book
 1814-1822
Box 2, Folder 9 Memorandum Book
 1819-1834
Box 2, Folder 10 Memorandum Entries in Almanac of 1821
 1821
Box 2, Folder 12 Cash Accounts Book and genealogical notes
 1823-1830
Box 2, Folder 13 Memorandum Entries, in Almanac of 1824
 1824
Box 2, Folder 14 Memorandum Entries in Almanac of 1825
 1825
Box 2, Folder 15 Almanac of 1827
 1827
Box 2, Folder 17 Memorandum Entries, in Almanac of 1831
 1831