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