Anne S. Kinsolving Brown papers (Ms.2007.013)

The Anne Seddon Kinsolving Brown collection (1906-1985) spans the years from Brown's early education beginning in 1912, through her death in 1985. The collection consists of manuscripts, newspaper clippings, correspondence, financial invoices and reports, bound account ledgers, photographs, awards and certificates, legal papers, writings, and scrapbooks and albums. The volume of the collection spans approximately 52 linear feet.

The collection contains records relating to Brown's early and secondary education, as well as materials corresponding to her career as a journalist for The Baltimore News. Also included in the collection are drafts of Brown's writings and unpublished manuscript. A good deal of the collection is made up by the correspondence received from friends and family dating from the early 1930s. There are several files devoted to correspondence between Brown and her husband, John Nicolas Brown II.

Mrs. Brown's "Old Files" were begun by Brown upon setting up her household after returning from her year-long honeymoon with John Nicholas Brown in September 1931. They cover the period from 1931-1950, with some later additions. The heaviest concentration of materials is for the period 1933 through 1943. Changes were made in the mid-1930s, when Brown started new files for old topics, but otherwise the systems remained intact through the immediate post-WWII years. Researchers should note that material from the 1920s were generally those created by John Nicholas Brown II and incorporated by Brown into her household papers. This series contains a variety of records, including correspondence, groups and charities the Brown's were involved with, household information, etc. The "New Files" series appears to date from the immediate post-WWII period through to 1985. Interspersed with the original series of files maintained by Brown and her personal secretary, Ethel Hebb, is a later series of "ASKB" primary activities later in life: speeches and publications, charitable donations, collection of military prints and objects, and involvement in arts organizations such as the Rhode Island Foundation for the Arts in Newport, which sponsored the Newport Music Festival. Merging of the files from 50 South Main Street into Brown's original file series began at some unknown point in time and was completed only through the letter O.

Brown's papers contain a wealth of information on the running of the household, entertaining, and her active social life in and around Providence and Newport, Rhode Island.