Guide to the J. Carter Brown papers , 1934-2003

(bulk 1990-2002)

John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Published in 2022

Collection Overview

Title:	J. Carter Brown papers
Date range:	1934-2003, (1990-2002)
Creator:	Brown, J. Carter (John Carter), 1934-2002
Extent:	251 Linear Feet
Abstract:	The J. Carter Brown papers primarily contain correspondence, administrative materials, lecture notes, photographs, and other materials spanning his life. The bulk of the material is related to Brown's consulting business and his involvement as a board member with many organizations, dating between 1990 and 2002.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	Ms.2007.020

Scope & content

The J. Carter Brown papers primarily contain correspondence, administrative materials, lecture notes, photographs, and other materials that span his lifetime. The bulk of the material is related to Brown's consulting business, his work as Director Emeritus of the National Gallery of Art, and his involvement as a board member with many organizations. These materials date between 1990 and 2002.

Series 1 consists of correspondence, meetings schedules, phone logs and miscellaneous papers related to Brown's work at the National Gallery of Art, both as Director and as Director Emeritus. These materials range from 1963 to 2002.

Series 2 is comprised of materials from Brown's work as an independent consultant for various companies and projects including Ovation, the 1996 Olympics Rings exhibition, and Corbis. Items include meeting minutes, publicity and fundraising materials. The Rings exhibition materials also include information about the paintings on loan to the exhibition, how they were insured, and other such information. Among the miscellaneous sub-series items are materials from projects at the Louvre, the Windshield exhibition, and the White House.

Series 3 is comprised of meeting minutes, organizational materials, correspondence, and fundraising materials for the many organizations on whose Boards of Trustees and/or Boards of Directors Brown served. Some of the major organizations represented include the Commission of Fine Arts, Pritzker Architecture Prize, Association of Art Museum Directors, Cafritz Foundation, Brown University Corporation, John Nicholas Brown Center, John Carter Brown Library, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Heinz Endowment, Kennedy Center, Newport Restoration Foundation, Nordstern Insurance Company, Winterthur, and World Monuments Fund. The materials from the Commission of Fine Arts include much about the designs, decision-making processes, and politics of building monuments around Washington, D.C. Overall, there are more than thirty organizations included in this Series.

Lecture notes, research for presentations, articles informing future lecture topics, and articles written by or about Brown are included in Series 4. Box 162 contains materials for Brown's lectures on Richard Neutra and Windshield, with which he toured around the United States.

Series 5 contains materials related to events to which Brown was invited, attended, orchestrated, or declined. Events related to specific organizations with which Brown was involved will be in the Organizations and Memberships series. These events span four decades, from 1960 to 2002. The majority of these events are fundraising galas, art gallery openings, museum events, and parties thrown by friends and acquaintances.

Throughout his career, Brown received many awards and honors in the form of honorary degrees, plaques, medallions, and other formats. These materials comprise Series 6. The awards are from the Postmaster General, the mayor of Washington, D.C., the American Association of Museums, the National Arts Club, and many other organizations. Brown received seventeen Honorary Doctorate Degrees from universities, including: Brown University, Georgetown University, Roger Williams University, Rhode Island School of Design, Univesity of Maryland, College Park, Tougaloo College, and American University.

The Personal materials in Series 7 are divided into eight sub-series. Sub-series A, Education, contains both notebooks and academic work, and correspondence from Brown's experiences at the Arizona Desert School, Groton School, Stowe School, Harvard University, Harvard Business School, and New York University. The correspondence in Sub-series B is comprised of letters primarily between Brown and his family, but also with some from friends. Sub-series C, Travel, is made up of travel brochures, tickets, bills, and some photographs of places Brown traveled with friends and family. Sub-series D, Residences, is comprised of descriptions of properties owned by Brown, plans for renovations, insurance policies, house inventories, and other related materials. The book project material (Sub-series E) is audio cassettes of Brown talking about his father's life, along with the transcripts of those descriptions. The financial materials (Sub-series F) have been restricted as much of the material relates to Brown's family investments. Sub-series G, Miscellaneous, contains materials about family estates and wine interests. The photographs and slides (Sub-series H) show family vacations, jury travels for the Pritzker Prize, and holiday events. The estate papers in Sub-series I contains condolence letters written upon his death in 2002, a DVD video of the memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral. It also contain financial information about his estate which is restricted.

Series 8, Other Media, is comprised of audio cassettes, video cassettes, and computer disks and CD-ROM. The audio and video cassettes feature Brown speaking about art collections, artists, the National Gallery of Art, Ovation, and the Rings Exhibition at the 1996 Olympics. The computer materials contain documents related to Brown's schedule and work as a consultant, and National Gallery of Art director emeritus.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Fischer, Angela Brown
• Brown, John Nicholas
• Brown, J. Carter (John Carter), 1934-2002
• Brown, Nicholas, 1933-
• Brown, Anne S. Kinsolving

Subject Organizations

• National Gallery of Art (U.S.)
• United States. Commission of Fine Arts

Subject Topics

• Windshield House (Fishers Island, N.Y.)
• Art
• Art museums -- Administration
• Pritzker Architecture Prize
• White House Historical Association
• Olympic Games (26th : 1996 : Atlanta, Ga.) -- Exhibitions

Occupations

• Art historians
• Art museum directors

Document Types

• Administrative records
• Correspondence
• Manuscripts for publication
• Architectural drawings (visual works)
• Awards
• Audiovisual Materials

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into the following series and sub-series:

• Series 1, National Gallery of Art, is arranged by topic and then chronologically.
• Series 2, Business Papers, are arranged by material type and then chronologically. It has five subseries:
  • Subseries A, Business Records and Correspondence.
  • Subseries B, Special Projects - Ovation, is arranged by topic and then chronologically.
  • Subseries C, Special Projects - Rings, is arranged by topic and then chronologically.
  • Subseries D, Special Projects - Miscellaneous, is arranged by project and then chronologically.
  • Subseries E, Special Projects - Corbis, is arranged chronologically.
• Series 3, Organizations and Memberships, is arranged by organization and then chronologically.
• Series 4, Lectures and Research, is arranged chronologically except for materials about Windshield. It has two subseries.
  • Subseries A, Lectures.
  • Subseries B, Articles, is arranged chronologically.
• Series 5, Events, is arranged chronologically.
• Series 6, Awards and Honors, is arranged by award type.
• Series 7, Personal, is arranged into eight subseries.
  • Subseries A, Education, is arranged chronologically by institution.
  • Subseries B, Correspondence, is arranged chronologically.
  • Subseries C, Travel, is arranged chronologically.
  • Subseries D, Residences, is arranged by residence and then chronologically.
  • Subseries E, Book Project, is arranged by material type.
  • Subseries F, Financial (RESTRICTED), is arranged by topic and then chronologically.
  • Subseries G, Miscellaneous, is arranged chronologically.
  • Subseries H, Photographs and Slides, is arranged chronologically.
  • Subseries I, Estate (RESTRICTED)
• Series 8, Other Media, is arranged by media type.

Biographical note

John Carter Brown (known as J. Carter) was born to John Nicholas Brown and Anne S. (Kinsolving) Brown on October 8, 1934, in Providence, R.I. Along with brother, Nicholas, and sister, Angela, Brown grew up in a house filled with art, antiques, classical music, and the history of a prominent Rhode Island family.

In his early childhood years, Brown attended St. Michael's School in Newport, R.I. During World War II, Brown and his brother, Nicholas, attended the Arizona Desert School. Both went on to attend the Groton School for both middle and high school. After graduating from the Groton School at sixteen, Brown's parents felt that spending a year at the Stowe School before attending college would be beneficial due to his young age. Brown went on to attend Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in history and literature in 1956.

Brown then made an unusual decision for someone in the arts, he decided to pursue a Master's in Business Administration at Harvard Business School, from which he graduated in 1958. Following his graduation, Brown spent several months studying under Bernard Berenson in Florence, Italy. Between 1958 and 1960, Brown also studied at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris and the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie in the Netherlands. Brown went on to attend the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, where he received a Master's of Arts in Art History in 1961.

Following his graduation from NYU, Brown accepted a position in the office of National Gallery Director, John Walker. Three years later, in 1964, Brown became Assistant Director of the National Gallery of Art at the age of thirty. In 1969, Brown took over as the Director of the National Gallery of Art - a position he would hold for twenty-three years. As Director, Brown has been credited with helping to create the modern blockbuster exhibition with events such as King Tut, "Treasure Houses of Britain," Andrew Wyeth's "Helga" nudes, and "Circa 1492." During his tenure as director, the gallery also opened the East Building in 1978, introducing architect, I. M. Pei to the broader American public.

While serving at the National Gallery of Art and following his retirement in 1992, Brown was involved in numerous projects and organizations. Brown became the Chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts in 1971 and of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury in 1979. In 1993, Brown became the Chairman of Ovation, an arts cable network - an organization that continues to this day. For the 1996 Centennial of the Olympic Games, Brown became the Guest Director of an international exhibition entitled, "Rings: Five Passions in World Art." Brown was also the main author of a book with the same title. The exhibition became a $4.2 million blockbuster of objects from 44 countries, which included Munch's "Scream," Rodin's "Kiss," and Matisse's "Dance."

Brown served on over thirty boards and committees, and held office in over fifteen of these organizations including, the World Monuments Fund, the National Geographic Society, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Storm King Art Center, the John Carter Brown Library, the John Nicholas Brown Center, and the Brown University Corporation. He was also a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Academy of Design.

In 1971, Brown married Constance Mellon Byers. They divorced two years later. Brown went on to marry Pamela Braga Drexel, with whom he had two children: John Carter Brown 4th and Elissa Lucinda Rionda Brown. The couple divorced in 1991. At the time of his death, Brown was engaged to Anne Hawley.

Brown was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a terminal blood cancer, in the early part of the 21st century. During this time, he was at work on a book about himself and his father, though he never completed the manuscript. In June 2002, Brown died as a result of pulmonary failure in Boston.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are eight restricted-access boxes. The rest of the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Materials are stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested. Advance notice is required to view born-digital records. Born-digital materials in this collection have not been reformatted yet. Researchers may request access to copies by contacting the John Hay Library with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. Access to original physical digital media is restricted.
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 Brown University Library. Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	J. Carter Brown papers, Ms. 2007.020, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148 Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	This collection was given to Brown University as a gift by Angela Brown Fischer and Nick Brown.
Accruals:	No further additions to this collection are expected.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Amy Greer.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-10-12.
Descriptive rules:	Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Additional Information

Related material:

Related Archival Materials note Resources at the John Hay Library of Brown University:John Nicholas Brown II papersAnne S.K. Brown papersAngela Brown Fischer papersNick Brown papersSearch in Brown University's online catalog, Josiah:Brown, J. Carter (John Carter), 1934-2002Outside of Brown:Materials at the National Gallery of Art Archives

Inventory

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