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Harold Brown papers (Ms.2007.006.TEMP)

Brown University Library

Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
email: hay@brown.edu

Inventory

Series 1. Personal correspondence, 1878-1889
Box 1, Folder 1
This series contains three letters written by Harold Brown. Two, dated 1878 and 1879, are to his cousin Desmond Fitzgerald and were written while Harold was in France. The third letter, dated March 1889, is to his brother John Nicolas Brown regarding tickets to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Additional personal correspondence both to and from Harold Brown may be found in Series 3. Financial papers and correspondence and in Series 5. Estate of Harold Brown.

Series 2. Legal
4.0 folders

Box 1, 3X
This series contains documents related to copyright, power of attorney, the lease of a safety deposit box, the deed of gift from Harold Brown to the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society and an ante-nuptial agreement between Harold’s sister Sophia Augusta Brown and her husband William Watts Sherman.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 2 Documents related to copyright and power of attorney
Box 1, Folder 3 Document concerning the lease of a safety deposit box
Box 1, Folder 4 Deed of gift to the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society
Box 3X, Folder 1 Ante-nuptial agreement

Series 3. Financial papers and correspondence, 1884-1899
57.0 folders

Box 1, 2, 3X
This is by far the largest series in Harold Brown’s papers. Most of it consists of additional material found in a wooden box labeled 1839-40 at the John Nicolas Brown Center. Nine bundles of tightly folder papers labeled “Letters” (now Subseries I. Personal investments), “Bills Paid” (now Subseries J. Miscellaneous bills paid) and “St. Columba’s Chapel" (Subseries C) have been integrated into this series. The bundle labeled “Vouchers for Debts” is now in Series 5. Estate of Harold Brown, Subseries B.

While most of this material is related to business affairs, it also includes correspondence concerning various personal matters such as club memberships and charitable contributions.

Subseries A. Grace Church
Box 1, Folder 5
This subseries contains a personal letter to Harold Brown from F.W. Wing dated July 1891. A second letter dated September 1900 confirmed that Grace church had accepted $1500 from Harold Brown's estate as an endowment fund for the general use of the church. The church also agreed that pew number 39 belonging to Harold Brown would "be ever kept and maintained as a free pew". Additional material concerning Grace Church may be found in Subseries I and J.

Subseries B. St. Elizabeth's Home
Box 1, Folder 6
This subseries contains an annual report for St. Elizabeth’s Home dated November 1887, a letter acknowledging receipt of a donation from Harold Brown for $10,000 and an undated letter concerning the financial policies of the Home.

Subseries C. St. Columba's Chapel
3.0 folders

Box 1
This subseries contains material dated from 1886 to 1889 related to Harold’s contributions to St. Columba’s Chapel in Middletown, R.I. They include the original itemized contract for the pipe organ from Hilbourne L. Roosevelt in New York City.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 7
1886 Jul-Dec
Box 1, Folder 8 1887
Box 1, Folder 9 1888-1889

Subseries D. Missionary
2.0 folders

Box 1
This subseries contains material concerning the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society and St. Ansgarius Church in Providence. It is dated from November 1898 to January 1899. Additional material concerning the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society and St. Ansgarius Church may be found in Subseries I and J.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 10 Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society
Contents Note: This folder contains correspondence regarding the interpretation of Harold Brown’s deed of gift to the Society.
Box 1, Folder 11 St. Ansgarius Church, Providence, R.I.
Contents Note: This folder contains two letters, dated May 1891 and April 1898, regarding Harold Brown’s agreement to build the church.

Subseries E. Civic activities
Box 1, Folder 12
This subseries contains letters dated from January 1885 to February 1891, informing Harold Brown that he had been elected a member of the corporation of Butler Hospital for the Insane, the Providence Institution for Savings, Rhode Island Hospital, and St. Mary’s Orphanage. Additional material concerning his civic activities may be found in Subseries I and J.

Subseries F. Memberships
Box 1, Folder 13
This subseries contains letters confirming Harold Brown’s election to membership in the Newport Natural History Society, the Newport Reading Room and the Coaching Club of New York. They are dated from 1885 to 1892. Additional material concerning Harold’s memberships may be found in Subseries I and J.

Subseries G. Real estate
11.0 folders

Box 1, 3X
This subseries contains documents and correspondence related to Harold Brown’s purchase of the Walter H. Burns estate on Bellevue Ave. in Newport in 1893, the construction of his home there, and his purchase of the George Nugent-William T. Ropes estate in Newport in 1899. It consists of eleven folders. Seven are related to the Burns estate, three concern the Nugent-Ropes estate and one contains miscellaneous correspondence from and to Harold Brown.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 14 Correspondence related to the purchase of the Burns estate
1893 Sep-1893 Nov
Box 1, Folder 15 Documents from Walter H. Burns related to Harold's purchase of his estate
1893 Nov
Box 1, Folder 16 Correspondence and memoranda of payments related to the furnishings and decoration of Harold Brown's house
1894 Sep-1896 Jun
Box 1, Folder 17 Contracts between Harold Brown and various construction firms
1894 Feb-1899 Mar
Box 1, Folder 18 Articles of Agreement related to the construction and furnishing of Harold's house
1895 Aug
Box 3X, Folder 2 Specifications for work on Harold's house from Dudley Newton, architect
1896 Apr
Box 3X, Folder 4 Copy of a bill from Robert W. Curry for work on Harold's house
1895 Nov
Box 1, Folder 19 Documents and correspondence related to the sale of and legal title to the Nugent-Ropes estate, including the deed
1888 Feb-1899 Jul
Box 3X, Folder 3 Copy of the will of George Nugent and a pamphlet describing the George Nugent Home for Baptists
1875 Feb 2-1887 Jun 6
Box 3X, Folder 5 Documents related to the sale of George Nugent's property in Newport to William T. Ropes
1899 Apr
Box 1, Folder 20 Three letters: one from Harold Brown to Mrs. F.D. Perkins regarding a fence between their properties; Mrs. Perkins'reply; letter from Dudley Newton to Harold regarding the terms of Robert Curry's contract
1895 May-1895 Sep

Subseries H. Trust income: John Carter Brown estate, 1888 Apr-1891 Jan
4.0 folders

Box 1
This subseries includes material related to the ownership of property, stock and mortgages inherited by Harold from his father.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 21 Two legal documents related to the assignment of mortgages to Harold Brown
Box 1, Folder 22 Four legal documents related to the assignment of mortgages to Harold Brown
Box 1, Folder 23 Four deeds: three for manufacturing property and one for one-half of the Hopkins St. property in Newport
Box 1, Folder 24 One stock certificate and one bill of sale for stock

Subseries I. Personal investments
3.0 folders

Box 1
This material, originally found in bundles labeled “Letters”, is dated from 1885 to 1888. Most of it concerns financial matters, chiefly investments in mortgage loans in several Midwestern states. The more personal correspondence sheds some light on Harold Brown’s interests and activities. One can find, for example, that he was asked to be the president of the Ashton Cricket Club in 1888, that he contributed to the Providence Fireman’s Relief Fund, and that his interest in family history led him to ask the firm of Stone, Carpenter and Willson to conduct an inventory of all the Brown family monuments in the North Burial Ground in Providence, including measurements, sketches and rubbings of the monument stones.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 25 1885 May-1886 Dec
Box 1, Folder 26 1887
Box 1, Folder 27 1888 Jan-1888 May

Subseries J. Miscellaneous bills paid
30.0 folders

Box 1, 2
These bills are dated from November 1884 to April 1892. A few have no date but were left in the order in which they were found. Many of the bills with earlier dates are addressed to Mrs. John Carter Brown or to John Nicholas Brown. Most are on letterhead stationery. A few are handwritten in pencil on small pieces of lined paper. Some are in French.

These thirty folders provide an enormous amount of detail about the everyday expenses of the Brown family. They include, but are not limited to, itemized bills from stables, carriage makers, wine merchants, grocers, jewelers and landscapers. One may discover, for example, that a matched pair of bay carriage horses named Charley and Prince cost $1000 in 1885 and that their railroad fare from Westerly, R.I. to Providence was $5.20. Three cases of Mouton Rothschild 1878 cost $120 in 1892. Five “house treatments” by Dr. J.P. Brooks, which included the use of massage and electricity, cost $15.

These receipts also contain information about Harold’s charitable contributions and personal expenses. For example, he contributed to the Providence Branch of the Indian Rights Association, of which his brother John was once Treasurer, and in 1885 to the fund “for the completion of the pedestal for the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty”. He owned a pew in Grace Church in Providence which carried an annual fee of $27. The receipts which he saved from the Union League Club in New York City not only list what he ordered for meals but also include the fare, date and destination of his carriage rides in the city.

Container Description Date
Box 1, Folder 28 1884 Nov-Dec
Box 1, Folder 29 1885 Jan-Feb
Box 1, Folder 30 1885 Mar
Box 1, Folder 31 1885 Apr-May
Box 1, Folder 32 1885 Jun-Jul
Box 1, Folder 33 1885 Aug-Oct
Box 1, Folder 34 1885 Nov-Dec
Box 1, Folder 35 1886 Jan
Box 1, Folder 36 1886 Feb-Mar
Box 1, Folder 37 1886 Apr-Jun
Box 1, Folder 38 1886 Jul-Sep
Box 1, Folder 39 1886 Oct-Dec
Box 1, Folder 40 1887 Jan
Box 1, Folder 41 1889 May-Dec
Box 2, Folder 1 1890 Jan-Feb
Box 2, Folder 2 1890 Mar-Apr
Box 2, Folder 3 1890 May-Jun
Box 2, Folder 4 1890 Jul-Aug
Box 2, Folder 5 1890 Sep-Nov
Box 2, Folder 6 1890 Dec
Box 2, Folder 7 1891 Jan
Box 2, Folder 8 1891 Feb
Box 2, Folder 9 1891 Mar
Box 2, Folder 10 1891 Apr
Box 2, Folder 11 1891 May-Jun
Box 2, Folder 12 1891 Jul-Aug
Box 2, Folder 13 1891 Sep-Oct
Box 2, Folder 14 1891 Nov-Dec
Box 2, Folder 15 1892 Jan-Feb
Box 2, Folder 16 1892 Mar-Apr

Series 4. Writings
2.0 folders

Box 2
This series contains two softbound manuscripts written by Harold Brown.

No. 4 Mill
Box 2, Folder 17
This volume, which is not dated, provides a detailed accounting of the manufacture of cotton textiles at the No. 4 Mill in Ashton (Cumberland) Rhode Island. The mill provided a fine grade of cotton cloth called Londsdale Cambric Muslins.

Her Last Command
Box 2, Folder 18
This is an unpublished, handwritten novel by Harold Brown. The date on the title page is August 1885. The story concerns the young heir to the Aldrich fortune and his romance with a woman of whom his mother does not approve. Several of the pages have small drawings in ink of some of the characters in the story.

Series 5. Estate of Harold Brown
5.0 folders and 1 box

Box 2, 3X, 4X
This series consists of correspondence related to issues concerning Harold's property in Newport after his death, bills received and paid by his estate, a detailed accounting of his estate by his executors, and two cashbooks.

Subseries A. Correspondence
Box 2, Folder 19
This subseries contains two sets of letters. The first consists of seven letters from the Newport Water Works asking permission of the Harold Brown estate to lay a water main next to his property on Hazard Avenue. They were written in the summer of 1900.

The second set contains eight letters, dated from 1906 to 1920, concerning a dispute over the property line of the estate. One letter is water damaged and illegible.

Subseries B. Vouchers for debts
3.0 folders

Box 2
This subseries consists of bill receipts and letters numbered 1 through 84. Numbers 18, 25 and 73 are missing. Two are numbered 24 and two are numbered 74. The bills were paid by Harold’s estate after his death on May 10, 1900.

The material in this subseries is similar to that in Subseries I and J of Series 3. It contains both personal and business correspondence. One example is the letter Harold wrote to Rev. W.H.P. Faunce, President of Brown University, offering to contribute $25,000 to the endowment fund of 1900. Another letter, dated June 23, 1900, accompanied a bill from the firm of C. Asprey and Sons in London. It expressed “their sincere regret and sympathy with Mr. Harold Brown and his mother on account of the great loss they have sustained by the death of Mr. John Nicholas Brown." This letter arrived well after Harold's death in May of that year.

Container Description Date
Box 2, Folder 20 Vouchers 1-25
Box 2, Folder 21 Vouchers 26-50
Box 2, Folder 22 Vouchers 51-74

Subseries C. "Estate of Harold Brown"
Box 3X, Folder 6
This subseries consists of a typewritten inventory of Harold Brown’s estate by his executors Sophia Augusta (Brown) Sherman and George W.R. Matteson. It includes an itemized list of all income and gains, debts, legacies and expenses, and the final distribution of the estate, including a detailed accounting of the expenses for Harold’s funeral.

Subseries D. Cashbooks
Box 4X
This subseries consists of two large cashbooks. The first is for the years 1888-1900 and is entitled "Statements: Harold Brown". The second, for the years 1901-1905, is entitled "Estate of Harold Brown: Georgette Brown Trust". Both contain lists of expenses and financial assets. Loose papers found in these books are enclosed in a folder inside the back cover of the volume in which they were found.