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Brown University Library Collections

Military History and Iconography Collections

Attaque du Ch�teau d'Eau. Place du Palais Royal, le 24 F�vrier 1848. Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection

Allison (Thomas M.)
Thomas M. Allison (U.S.N., Ret.) served aboard the Hornet when propaganda leaflets were dropped in the Tokyo area on 17 February 1945. This collection includes literary manuscripts, official and personal correspondence, and memorabilia relating to World War II navy convoy in 1941 and British P.O.W.'s in Thailand. Also includes: single-leaf leaflets produced by the U.S. Navy in an attempt to lower the morale of the Japanese during World War II which were printed aboard the carrier U.S.S. Hornet (CV-12), placed in aircraft bomber bays and then dropped over Tokyo. ...more information
Anne S.K. Brown Military
The Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection is the foremost American collection of material devoted to the history and iconography of soldiers and soldiering, and is one of the world's largest collections devoted to the study of military and naval uniforms. It was formed over a period of forty years by the late Mrs. John Nicholas Brown (1906-1985) of Providence and is still growing. It contains approximately 12,000 printed books, 18,000 albums, sketchbooks, scrapbooks and portfolios, (containing thousands of prints and drawings), and over 13,000 individual prints, drawings and water-colors as well as a collection of 5,000 miniature lead soldiers.

Formerly in the Brown family residence (the Nightingale-Brown House, 1791), the entire collection (which was probably the largest private military collection in the world), was presented to Brown University and transferred to Special Collections located in the John Hay Library in 1982. ...more information
Berube (Kenneth) (Class of 1966) Vietnam oral history
Kenneth Allen Berube (1943-1967), Class of 1966, is honored on Panel 24E, Row 99 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in Washington, D.C. and on Brown University’s War Memorial, installed on the Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle, near Soldier's Arch. This collection contains photocopies of official papers and low-quality images documenting Berube’s military career, and personal recollections of two Marines who served with him in Vietnam. ...more information
Brennan (Joseph Payne)
The Brennan papers consist of manuscripts of short stories and poems, fan mail, correspondence with fellow writers both poets and horror story writers, some World War II orders and correspondence and memorabilia some of which is housed in scrapbooks, photographs, submissions to the self published magazines Macabre and Essence as well as personal legal, medical, and financial papers. Books in the collection are cataloged individually in Josiah under "Joseph Payne Brennan Collection". ...more information
Bromsen (Maury A.) Lincoln

In 2006, the Hay Library received a large bequest of materials relating to Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War from the estate of Boston book dealer Maury A. Bromsen. The collection included a significant array of prints and ephemera from the period, along with books, pamphlets, sheet music, sound recordings, period newspapers, portraits, and manuscripts. Among the key items included in the bequest were the original copper plates and full sets of prints from the Confederate War Etchings series by Maryland artist Adalbert Volck, substantial sets of manuscripts of Confederate General P.T.G.Beauregard and Union General George B. McClellan, and a set of the copy plates made by George Ayres from the original glass plate negatives created during an 1860 photo shoot by Chicago photographer Alexander Hesler.

Bromsen was an assiduous collector, and his own papers, which comprise part of the bequest, reveal his collecting activities as well as his efforts to place important items in public institutions. ...more information
Brooks (William H.) Family
The Brooks family papers consist almost exclusively of correspondence from the period 1861-1865 of members of the Brooks family of Little Falls, New Jersey. While most of the letters are primarily concerned with family matters and relationships, some portion of the content relates the military activities of William H. Brooks and Jesse S. Comac, who enlisted in the Union Army at the rank of private early in the war. Camp life and battle scenes are described. ...more information
Brown (Anne Seddon Kinsolving)
Personal papers of Anne Seddon Kinsolving Brown (1906-1985) who was one of the foremost authorities on military iconography. The collection includes her professional, family and personal correspondence, along with household records and materials that document her professional activities as a journalist, writer, and collector of military books, prints and museum objects. ...more information
Brown University Archives - World War I Correspondence
Letters from Brown University alumni and students in the armed services, written to persons at the University including President William H. P. Faunce, Assistant to the President, Thomas B. Appleget, Professor James Quayle Dealey, and Dean Otis E. Randall. ...more information
Bullard Napoleon
This collection, given by Paul Revere Bullard (Brown Class of 1897), constitutes one of the largest collections of caricatures of Napoleon in the United States, and represents the work of English, French, German Russian, and Spanish artists; almost all the cartoons are hostile to their subject. The Bullard Collection complements similar holdings in the Anne S. K. Brown Collection, and is rivalled only by collections in the British Museum and the Bibliotheque Nationale. ...more information
Cameron (William H.) Civil War
The William H. Cameron papers consists of approximately 100 items, most of which pertain to Cameron's service in the Union Army during the Civil War. ...more information
Carley (Michael J.) (Class of 1962) Vietnam Oral History
This collection contains biographical information about Michael John Carley (Brown University Class of 1962), who was killed in action (KIA 670227) while copiloting a helicopter mission in the Vietnam War. Carley had flown 320 missions, entitling him to 16 Air Medals. A large part of the collection is in the form of an oral history and other recollections by his widow, Connie Worthington (Brown University/Pembroke Class of 1968). Worthington talks about their days as students at Brown University, Carley’s pilot training, his experiences in Vietnam and his memorial services, as part of the Vietnam Oral History Collections. There are also recollections about Mike Carley from his U.S.M.C. comrades from military-related sources and from a reunion with Connie, son Michael Carley, Jr. and the surviving members of Mike Carley's [Sr.] squadron. Includes a published book by Mike's brother, Richard Carley, titled "Growing up on the farm: a Sharon Mountain story" which includes historical recollections of the town of Sharon, Connecticut, and a remembrance of Mike. ...more information
Carroll (Michael R.)
The collection consists of documents relating to Michael Carroll's pension for Civil War military service, letters written to him about slavery and the impact of emancipation by Victor Chambers, and the book "Born at the Battlefield of Gettysburg" written by Carroll's great-grandaughter, Harriet Rinaldi. ...more information
Carvely (Andrew)
Consists primarily of printed works by and about T.E. Lawrence, collected by Andrew Carvely, and acquired from his estate in 1998. The collection comprises four categories: books by Lawrence including forwards, introductions, and translations; books about Lawrence including compilations of his letters, association copies, and ephemera including journal articles, newspaper articles, programs, brochures, posters and an original oil painting by Glen Schomburg commissioned by Andrew Carvely. The collection is particularly strong in works in Arabic and Hebrew. Gifts and purchases continue to augment the original collection.
This collection supplements holdings of T.E. Lawrence editions acquired earlier from the library of Francis H. Chafee, including the 1926 subscriber's edition of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Further information about the collection and the collector is available in a catalog produced for an exhibition at the John Hay Library, March 2 - April 30, 1998: T.E. Lawrence: A 20th century retrospective by Kathi Frances McGraw and Andrew Carvely. [May 2002] ...more information
Civil War Manuscripts
Comprises more than 26 collections (more than 2,000 letters in all) covering the period from 1858 through 1879. Includes correspondence, diaries, photographs, prints and graphics and other related materials pertaining to all aspects of the Civil War, from the lives of enlisted Union soldiers and their families back home, to camp life and battlefield medicine, and the political issues that gripped the nation. ...more information
Corbett (Scott)
The Scott Corbett papers contain a variety of material related to his career as a writer as well as personal memorabilia from his childhood and service in the United States Army during World War II. These papers also include Elizabeth Corbett's personal and business papers and artwork by the illustrator and author Don Freeman. ...more information
Crost (Lyn)
Eleanor Elizabeth (Lyn) Crost graduated from Pembroke College as part of the Class of 1938, and went on to a distinguished career in journalism. The Crost papers relate Lyn Crost's experiences as a war correspondent covering the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team (an all Japanese-American unit) in Europe during World War II. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, draft literary manuscripts, scrapbooks of news articles written by Crost during the war as a reporter for the Honolulu Star Bulletin, and later materials she compiled to use in writing Honor by Fire(1994). The collection also includes incomplete runs of the serials Go for Broke and Puka Puka Parade, videocassettes of various movies and documentaries about the Nisei, and personal artifacts such as her World War II theater campaign ribbon and her war correspondent's hat.
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Downs Family
The Downs family correspondence consists of letters written by four brothers (Albert, Edward, Frederick, and Willie Downs) to their family in Westville, Connecticut, while the four were serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. The letters, which date mainly from 1861-1865, cover topics such as camp life, military operations, family matters, and the Union naval blockade of the South. ...more information
Drowne Family
In 1940, the personal library of botanist and physician Dr. Solomon Drowne, Class of 1773, plus over 1,000 documents and letters relating to members of the Drowne family (1770 through 1940) were moved from Mt. Hygeia, Dr. Drowne's home in Foster, Rhode Island, to Brown. This fine example of an 18th century American private library is preserved intact within Special Collections. ...more information
Dupee Fireworks
Through the generosity of Paul Dupee, the library acquired the premier collection of books and manuscripts devoted to the history of recreational fireworks. The collection was assembled by Chris A. Philip, one of Great Britain's foremost pyrotechnists and author of the standard reference work on the subject -- A Bibliography of Firework Books (Winchester, 1985).John Babington's Pyrotechnia, or a discourse of Artificiall Fire-works: In which the true Grounds of that Art are plainly and perspiciously laid downe (London, 1635) was chosen from among the wealth of material in the Dupee Collection to be the Brown University Library's ceremonial Three Millionth Volume. ...more information
Ellsworth (Elmer Ephraim)

The Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth papers, covering the period 1854-1861, consist of correspondence, a journal fragment, drafts of his writings, and sketches concerning Ellsworth's involvement with the Illinois Militia, the United States Zouave Cadets, and the New York Fire Zouaves, along with memorabilia about Ellsworth and his military career that was produced some time after his death. ...more information
Fenner (Edward)
The Edward Fenner papers consist of correspondence, family records, deeds, accounts, receipts, orders, invoices, and other documents relating to Fenner's family background, his life and his service on the Town Council of Johnston, Rhode Island during the latter half of the eighteenth century. ...more information
Goff family papers
The Goff family papers number seven items in all. The collection includes a letter from Daniel H. Goff, a Rhode Island native, sent from San Francisco, in 1849 to his family in Rhode Island. It includes military commissions of him and his son William M.Goff, in 1849 and 1865-1867 respectively. The collection also includes the wills of William's brother, Daniel. C. Goff, probated 1852, and the latter's wife, Martha Hall Goff, dated 1946. ...more information
Guild (Emmons Dexter)
The Emmons Dexter Guild papers comprise some 100 items, the bulk of which are letters he wrote to his family in the course of his service in the 1st Rhode Island Cavalry during the Civil War. The collection includes financial papers of the Improved Order of Red Men, Pokanoket Tribe No. 38, a fraternal organization to which Guild belonged, along with items that relate to Guild's role as Aide-de-Camp in the Grand Army of the Republic. ...more information
Gurney (Warren S.)
The Gurney papers consist of forty-three letters pertaining to the Civil War, written between December 1863 and July 1865 by Warren S. Gurney, a bandmember of the 56th Massachusetts Regiment to his family in Massachusetts. The letters describe military life, the regiment's campaign in Virginia, and family matters. ...more information
Hamilton (Henry D.)
These papers date from 1836-1968 with the bulk between 1837-1942. Henry D. Hamilton was a lawyer and politician who also served as the Adjutant General of New York and Rhode Island. His papers include, but are not limited to, correspondence, business papers, subject files, diaries, certificates, photographs, scrapbooks, and artifacts. Most of the material dated before 1894 belonged to Henry Hamilton's father, B.B. Hamilton, a Baptist minister. The collection also includes genealogical information about the Hamilton family, writings and correspondence by Henry's elder brother John B. Hamilton, a medical doctor, and material related to the military careers of B.B. Hamilton, Henry D. Hamilton and Henry's son Warren Hamilton. This collection is useful for the study of the participation of Illinois in the U.S. Civil War, Baptist ministers, the Antislavery movement in Illinois, and the work of lawyers and politicians during the 19th and 20th centuries. ...more information
Hill (Walter Nickerson)
American chemist. Letters and manuscripts; letterpress books; scrapbook; notebooks; documents; pamphlets; photographs; and memorabilia. The bulk of the written material (to, from, and about Hill) dates from 1870 through 1884. It consists of personal letters between Hill and his wife; letters between Hill and leading scientists and ordinance specialists; letters to and from important political, scientific, and military figures regarding Hill's application for appointment of Professor of Mathematics in the Navy; business correspondence; Hill's patents and pamphlets regarding explosives, demagnetization, etc.; newspaper clippings of Hill's death in an explosion. ...more information
Hunt (E. Howard)
The collection comprises correspondence between E. Howard Hunt (Brown University, Class of 1940), W. Chesley Worthington (Brown University, Class of 1923), Bruce M. Bigelow (Brown University, Class of 1924), and Elmer M. Blistein (Brown University, Class of 1942). The correspondence with Worthington and Bigelow chiefly dates from Hunt's military service during and immediately following World War II. The bulk of the collection comprises correspondence between Hunt and Blistein, commencing in 1969 when Blistein asked Hunt to speak at a retirement dinner honoring I.J. Kapstein, and continuing through 1993, the year of Blistein's death. The two wrote frequently, if irregularly, on wide-ranging topics including personal and professional news, reminiscences, and their mutual affiliation with Brown University. Materials include typescript and autograph correspondence, postcards, and clippings. ...more information
Jones (Samuel)
These papers consist primarily of correspondence from James Manning, first president of Brown University, discussing issues relating to the founding of the college, such as fundraising, the charter, and the use of University Hall as barracks by the United States government during the American Revolutionary War. ...more information
Kowalski (Barry F.) (Class of 1966) Vietnam oral history
This collection contains the oral history interview of Barry Kowalski, Class of 1966, by Professor Beth Taylor of Brown University for the Vietnam Veterans Archive collection and related documents and objects. The interview was by telephone, on February 21, 2011. The interview draws on Barry Kowalski’s recollections of his years at Brown (1962 to 1966, graduating with a B.A. in Political Science), and his military training and experiences in Vietnam. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in the fall of 1966, and attended the Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia before receiving his commission. He wanted a non-combat position as a transport, communications, or supply officer—Military Operations Specialists (MOS), but he and his whole class were given commissions as infantry officers. He was in Vietnam from November 1967 - Summer 1968. Barry was stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. for his second and final year of service. There are some recollections about his return to the United States during the war era. In 1973, Barry earned his JD from Catholic University Law School. Since 1980, he has been a lawyer for the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. He has helped prosecute cases including the Rodney King beating and the last Department of Justice investigation of the Martin Luther King Assassination. ...more information
Leyninger (Jacques)
These are the papers of Jacques Leyninger who served in the 4th Compagnie Saharienne Portée d'Infanterie Marine for France during 1947-1963. He was stationed in Morocco (1947-1949), Vietnam (1950-1952), and North Africa (1952-1963). It consists primarily of the letters written by him to his parents during 1947-1980. It also contains documentation of his military service, maps of countries in North Africa where he was stationed, photographs and photograph albums, and the insignia and medals for his uniform. ...more information
Lincoln (Abraham)

A collection, comprising 30,000+ items in various media, of materials by and about Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States, and about the historical and political context of his life and career, chiefly the U.S. Civil War and its causes and aftermath. The collection of Charles Woodberry McLellan (1836-1918), one of five great Lincoln collectors at the turn of the 20th century, was acquired for Brown University in 1923 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Class of 1897, and others, in memory of John Hay, Class of 1858, one of Lincoln's White House secretaries; in the ensuing 75 years it has been increased to more than five times its original size.

The books and pamphlets include 85-90 percent of the titles in Jay Monaghan's Lincoln bibliography, 1829-1939 (many in multiple editions and variant copies), as well as many thousand volumes of contemporary and later publications relating to the Civil War and the slavery controversy. In conjunction with the Harris Collection, the John Hay Library holds probably the largest collection anywhere of poems about Lincoln. There is also a good selection of representative titles of books that Lincoln read.

The manuscript collection includes original letters, notes, and documents, over 950 written or signed by Lincoln; material relating to Lincoln's family and associates; and facsimiles of manuscripts held by other institutions. The broadsides include song sheets, political sheets, ballots, and posters; also 27 of the 52 printed editions listed in Charles Eberstadt, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. There is a selection of newspapers for 1860-1865; an index to the 11,300+ entries for Lincoln items in all existing files of Illinois newspapers to the end of the Civil War; and photocopies of the clipping files of the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum, Fort Wayne, Ind.

The prints, arranged according to Meserve numbers, include most of the known photographs of Lincoln, engravings, and Currier & Ives prints. There are also original oil portraits by artists of Lincoln's day, most notably the portrait by Peter Baumgras, 1827-1903; some original drawings, as well as a scrapbook of Thomas Nasts's Civil War sketches. The statuary includes two Rogers groups, an original Truman Bartlett plaster statuette, and replicas of Leonard Volk's work. The sheet music comprises every known piece relating to Lincoln, including funeral marches, memorial songs, and campaign songs. The museum objects include over 550 medals, mourning and campaign badges, coins, postage stamps, etc. ...more information
Manning (James)
The James Manning Papers consist primarily of correspondence dating from 1765-1791 with prominent British and American Baptist ministers. Much of the correspondence involves the early history of Brown University or various issues regarding the Baptist religion and the growing tide of religion in Providence, Rhode Island. ...more information
Martensen (Augustus)
The Martensen Papers are comprised of letters and documents; including fifty-five Civil War letters in German by Martensen and letters received by Martensen and members of Martensen's family. ...more information
Mazansky Swords
The Cyril and Harriet Mazansky British Sword Collection was given to Brown University in 1999. The Collection consists of approximately 100 British swords as well as a sizeable group of miniature military figures, a collection of books on arms and armor, and a series of watercolors by the Scottish-South African artist Andy May. ...more information
Napoleon
The William Henry Hoffman collection on Napoleon I, donated in 1924 by Hoffman's widow, contains over 100 manuscripts pertaining to the First French Republic and the Napoleonic era, many of which are signed by the Emperor, and 400 rare books, prints, art objects and examples of fine bindings. It still occupies its own room on the John Hay Library's top floor.
Annotated guide to collection in RS filing cabinet. ...more information
Posters
The Poster Collection, a part of the Broadsides Collection, contains over 800 items, focusing mainly on American war posters from World War I and II. Other collections include some labor posters, book-related items, and posters designed to be displayed on buses. Other named collections within special collections also contain posters, including the Sidney Albert-George Bernard Shaw Collection, the Robert J. Tierney Jr. Entertainment Memorabilia Collection, the Chester H. Kirk Collection on Alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous, the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, the William Chauncey Langdon Collection of Pageants, the H. Adrian Smith Collection of Conjuring and Magicana, the Paul R. Dupee Jr. '65 Collection on Fireworks, the Sidney S. Rider Collection, among others. ...more information
Robinson (James J.)
The James J. Robinson papers consist of legal documents, manuscripts, notes on legal cases, speeches, and research and drafts of a published book. The bulk of the collection pertains to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE). ...more information
Schirmer Anti-Imperialism

This collection, assembled by Daniel Boone Schirmer, currently numbers 964 titles dealing with the Anti-Imperialist movement of 1898 and its repercussions in United States, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Filipino history. It deals with the debate within the United States during and after the Spanish-American War over the appropriate relationship between the English-speaking and Spanish speaking Americas.

Searching for AUTHOR "Schirmer Collection" in JOSIAH pulls up a complete list of titles in the collection.

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Thatcher (Henry Knox)
The Henry Knox Thatcher papers comprise three journals kept by Thatcher while he was on active duty as an officer of the U.S. Navy between 1839 and 1863, and cover his service on board the U.S.S. Brandywine (1839-1841), the U.S.S. Jamestown (1847-1849), the U.S.S. Shore Ship Relief (1851-1852) and the U.S.S. Constellation (1862-1863). The collection also includes Thatcher's naval commissions, a pamphlet that details his naval service, Thatcher's military insignia (including dress sword, admiral's hat and epaulets), and an 1862 painting of the Constellation by Italian artist Tomaso de Simone.
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Toulouse Family correspondence
This collection is one bound volume of letters written by brothers Eugene and Jean Toulouse to their brother Emile Toulouse regarding their experiences in the French military during World War I. There are also a few letters written to Emile by friends and cousins. Emile served as a Firefighter in Paris. Eugene served with the Infantry and Jean served with the Artillery and then trained as an Electrician. The volume contains about 1,000 items. The correspondence dates from January 3, 1916 to November 17, 1917. It also contains a sheet of dried flowers collected by Eugene in the trenches during March - July 1915. The volume is a homemade scrapbook style volume. Thin strips of paper are gathered into signatures. Each piece of correspondence was then pasted to the strip of paper along one edge. The covers are made of paperboard and cloth and covered with blue paper reminiscent of the color of the French uniforms called "bleu horizon." ...more information
Turner (William Mason)
Contains personal correspondence, legal documents, poetry, photographs, and sketches of William Mason Turner, a graduate of Brown University (1855), physician, Confederate surgeon, traveler and author. ...more information

Image Source: Jules Gaildrau. Attaque du Ch�teau d'Eau. Place du Palais Royal, le 24 F�vrier 1848. Paris : Leclere �diteur, 29 Boulevard Poissoni�re, Imp. Lemercier, [1848?]. Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection.

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