Drowne family papers, 1728-1936

(bulk 1750-1885)

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 2024

Collection Overview

Title:	Drowne family papers
Date range:	1728-1936, (1750-1885)
Creator:	Drowne, Solomon
Extent:	10 Linear Feet ca. 2800 items
Abstract:	The Drowne family papers encompass the correspondence and documents of several generations of an old and distinguished Rhode Island family, with the bulk of the materials consisting of writings and other materials pertaining to the life of Solomon Drowne, M.D. (1753-1834).
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	Ms.Drowne

Scope & content

The Drowne family papers consist of correspondence and documents dating from 1636 to 1936. The materials contains important information on members of the Arnold, Bowen, Brown, DeWolf, Greene, Rhodes, Russell, Stafford, and Tillinghast families of Rhode Island; and the Foster, Hall, and Ward families of Connecticut.

The collection includes much material pertaining to the history of Brown University. Dr. Solomon Drowne, a member of the Brown Class of 1773, taught at Brown from 1811 until his death in 1834. Many other members of the family also attended Brown. The collection thus contains correspondence reflecting on the early history of the University (1770-1820) - including letters signed by Brown's first Presidents: James Manning, Jonathan Maxcy, Asa Messer, and Asher Robbins, as well as later materials.

Other correspondents represented in the collection include Henry Bowen Anthony, John Jay, Lucy Audubon, Barnabas Binney, William Cullen Bryant, Lydia Maria Child, Henry Clay, Schuyler Colfax, George William Curtis, Theodore Dwight, Manton Eastburn, Edward Everett, Millard Fillmore, Hamilton Fish, Theodore Foster, Albert Gallatin, Ulysses S. Grant, John Hancock, Julia Ward Howe, Robert Livingston, James Monroe, Robert Morris, Rembrandt Peale, Earl Sproat, Thomas Ustick, George Washington, Daniel Webster, and Benjamin West.

The manuscripts that comprise the collection encompass a variety of forms: accounts, invoices, receipts; originals and copies of prose and poetry; notes, sketches, and valentines of Dr. Solomon Drowne; political, legal, and military documents; and ships' papers. Some broadsides in the collection (1809-1829) were annotated by Dr. Solomon Drowne or contain extensive notes in his hand. Among these are: "Exercises of Commencement, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 1809 September 6"; with notes on botany (recto and verso), dated 1812 April 23.

Among the later materials are photographs, particularly of family members and Mount Hygeia (the Drowne family estate in Foster), correspondence and genealogical materials largely compiled by Henry Thayer Drowne.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Jay, John, 1745-1829
• Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910
• Manning, James, 1738-1791
• Livingston, Robert R., 1746-1813
• Messer, Asa, 1769-1836
• Maxcy, Jonathan, 1768-1820
• Morris, Robert, 1734-1806
• Monroe, James, 1758-1831
• Peale, Rembrandt, 1778-1860
• Robbins, Asher, 1761-1845
• Sproat, Earl
• Ustick, Thomas, 1753-1803
• Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852
• Washington, George, 1732-1799
• West, Benjamin, 1730-1813
• Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson)
• Anthony, Henry B. (Henry Bowen), 1815-1884
• Audubon, Lucy Green Bakewell, 1788-1874
• Binney, Barnabas, 1751-1787
• Child, Lydia Maria
• Bryant, William Cullen, 1794-1878
• Colfax, Schuyler, 1823-1885
• Clay, Henry
• Curtis, George William
• Drowne, Solomon
• Eastburn, Manton, 1801-1872
• Dwight, Theodore, 1796-1866
• Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874
• Everett, Edward, 1794-1865
• Fish, Hamilton, 1808-1893
• Gallatin, Albert, 1761-1849
• Foster, Theodore, 1752-1828
• Hancock, John, 1737-1793

Subject Organizations

• Rhode Island Medical Society
• Brown University--Faculty
• Brown University
• Brown University. Class of 1773
• Brown University--Alumni and alumnae

Subject Topics

• Rhode Island/Local Interest
• Medicine -- History -- 18th century
• Botany -- History -- 18th century
• Medicine -- History -- 17th century
• Botany -- History -- 17th century
• Physicians
• Smallpox
• Vaccination

Geographical Names

• Marietta (Ohio)
• Foster (R.I. : Town)
• Rhode Island -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
• Rhode Island -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
• Rhode Island -- History -- 1775-1865
• United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783

Occupations

• College teachers
• Botanists
• Agriculturists

Document Types

• Fiction
• Poems
• Invoices
• Account books
• Letters (Correspondence)
• Broadsides (notices)
• Receipts (Financial records)
• Diaries

Arrangement

The collection is divided into 9 series:

• Series 1. Correspondence
• Series 2. Accounts, invoices, receipts
• Series 3. Addresses and orations
• Series 4. Brown University material correspondence
• Series 5. Diaries and journals
• Series 6. Papers related to medicine
• Series 7. Military documents
• Series 8. Miscellaneous manuscripts
• Series 9. Miscellaneous papers

Items within Correspondence, are ordered alphabetically by the author of the letter. Accounts, invoices and receipts are ordered alphabetically. Addresses and orations are ordered by name. Brown University material correspondence are arranged alphabetically. Diaries and journals are arranged by name and then by time. Papers related to medicine are arranged alphabetically by type. Military documents are arranged chronologically. Miscellaneous manuscripts and papers are arranged alphabetically.

Biographical/Historical note

Solomon Drowne (sometimes called Solomon Drowne, Junior) was born in Providence in 1753, the third of that name in one of the founding families of the colony of Rhode Island. He attended the College of Rhode Island (now Brown University) and graduated with the Class of 1773. He went on to enroll for the study of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, but his studies were interrupted when he decided to enlist as a surgeon in the Continental Army in 1776. After four years as a military surgeon, including service to the French forces stationed at Newport and on a Rhode Island privateer, Drowne resumed his medical studies. He also travelled widely in Europe, attending medical lectures in England, Holland, Belgium and France, and visiting hospitals. He returned briefly to Providence in 1785 to set up a medical practice, but was soon called to Ohio where he joined other veterans of the Revolutionary War in founding the town of Marietta. After four years in Ohio, the restless Drowne moved on to live in Pennsylvania and West Virginia before returning permanently to Rhode Island in 1801.

On his return, Drowne settled in Foster, where he built an elegant house with a botanical garden that he named Mount Hygeia, after the ancient Greek goddess of health. In 1811 he was elected Professor of Materia Medica and Botany at Brown University. He also served the University as a Fellow from 1783 until his death in 1834, and was for several years the Secretary of Corporation of Brown University. He was also a founding member of the Rhode Island Medical Society and the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry.

Drowne married Elizabeth Russell (1759-1844) at Holliston, Massachusetts, in November 1777. The Drownes had five daughters and three sons. One of the girls, Eliza Russell Drowne (1781-1865) -- sometimes referred as Elizabeth -- did some of the drawings that illustrated her father's botanical work. Solomon Drowne died at their home in Foster in 1834.

Although the Drowne papers include documents both prior to and after the life of Dr. Solomon Drowne, his personal papers are considered the heart of the collection. The family name is sometimes spelled "Drown" but more often "Drowne". Other members of the family represented in the collection include Solomon Drowne's parents, siblings, children and grandchildren. These include:

• Christopher Rhodes Drowne (b. 1830)
• Eliza Russell Drowne (1781-1865)
• Elizabeth Russell Drowne (1759-1844)
• Esther Frances Goldsmith Drowne
• George Leonard Drowne
• Georgianna Drowne (b. 1848)
• Henry Bernardin Drowne (1799-1873)
• Henry Russell Drowne (b. 1860)
• Henry Thayer Drowne (1822-1897)
• Julia Ann Stafford Drowne (1802-1888)
• Luther Washburne Drowne (1850-1890)
• Maude C. Drowne
• Sarah Drowne (1750-1834)
• Sarah Drowne (1790-1846)
• Sarah Rhodes Arnold Drowne (1832-1906)
• Samuel Drowne (1721-1770)
• Samuel Drowne (1752-1829)
• Shem Drowne (1683-1774)
• Solomon Drowne (1706-1780)
• Solomon Horace Drowne (1796-1848)
• Sophia Drowne
• Susan Leonard Drowne
• Thomas Russell Drowne (b. 1888)
• Thomas Stafford Drowne (1823-1897)
• William Drowne (1755-1786)
• William Drowne (1793-1874)

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
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:	Drowne family papers, Ms.Drowne, 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:	Gift of Henry Russell Drowne, Jr., Mr. Walter R. Drowne, and others in 1939.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-01-19.
Descriptive rules:	Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Additional Information

Related material:	Related Archival Materials note RESOURCES AT BROWN UNIVERSITYSolomon Drowne was an instrumental figure in the early life of Brown Univeristy. The Brown University Archives holds notes from his botany lectures, as well as a number of collections that contain materials on Drowne's career at Brown.Further details are contained in the following entries pertaining to Solomon Drowne from the Encyclopedia Brunoniana: Encyclopedia Brunoniana entry: "Drowne, Solomon"Encyclopedia Brunoniana entry: "Botany"The Brown University Library holds a number of works authored by Solomon Drowne, M.D.:Drowne, Solomon, 1753-1834The John Hay Library also holds the library collection of the Rhode Island Medical Society, of which Solomon Drowne was a founder. See entry in the Brown University Library Collections A-Z:Rhode Island Medical Society CollectionRESOURCES AT OTHER INSTITUTIONSExcerpts from Solomon Drowne's journal of a privateering voyage on the Sloop Hope in 1780, during the Revolutionary War (published in: American History Told by Contemporaries, Vol. II, p. 497-499, edited by Albert Bushnell Hart): Privateering during the American Revolution (excerpt from Solomon Drowne's journal)The American Revolution Digital Learning Project site includes two letters, one from Solomon Drowne to William Drowne (July 13, 1776), and a second from William Drowne to Mrs. Johnston of New York about the death of Capt. Joshua Sawyer (Sept. 25, 1781): Letter from Solomon Drowne, M.D. to William Drowne, Esq., Providence, dated July 13, 1776, General Hospital, N.Y.Letter from William Drowne to Mrs. Johnston of New York, dated Sept. 25, 1781, Jersey Prison ShipThe Massachusetts Historical Society has several letters of Solomon Drowne in its Foster Family Autograph Collection: Foster Family Autograph Collection (Massachusetts Historical Society)The Rhode Island Historical Society has an extensive collection of the papers of Theodore Foster (Brown Class of 1770), a close friend and neighbor of Solomon Drowne: Theodore Foster Papers, MSS 424 (Rhode Island Historical Society)
Separated material:	Separated Materials note A number of items were removed and catalogued individually as part of the Broadside Collection, John Hay Library: Annals of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (1-SIZE B6990 RI) In the eighty-fifth year of the independence of the United States (1-SIZE B6989 RI) John Merriman : No. 155 Leadenhall-Street, London (B4301 EN)
Other information:	Brown University Library catalog record for this collection: Drowne family papers

Inventory

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