Harold Brown papers (Ms.2007.006.TEMP)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.