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Brown University Library Collections

American Culture and Society Collections

Ciarldi Collection comic books

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  • Adams (George James)
    George James Adams (1812-1888) had a long career as a textile manufacturer and agent in Rhode Island. He was the treasurer of the Greenwich Print Works (1856-1882); a business associate at the Arkwright Cotton Mills (Fiskeville, R.I., circa 1836); an employee at Adams Print Works (Fiskeville, R.I.), Kent Print Works (East Greenwich, R.I.), Orion Cotton Mills (Providence, R.I., circa 1860s-1870s), Bristol Print Works (R.I.), and Clyde Bleaching and Print Works; a part owner of the Rhode Island Bleach and Dye Works, Adams and Butterworth (Providence, R.I., 1862-1882); and the chief agent at Narragansett Print Works (East Greenwich, R.I., 1848-1854). The collection includes family letters and business correspondence (mostly letters to Adams), invoices and receipts, inventories, payroll and supply lists, deeds and contracts, and photographs. A large number of letters are from Thomas P. Richmond, a banker of Bristol, Rhode Island, probably affiliated with the Bank of Bristol. They communicate Richmond’s strong abolitionist feelings and include descriptions of slave uprisings such as the insurrection on the ship La Amistad in 1839, meetings of abolitionist societies, etc. Also discussed are Richmond’s other interests, including phrenology, electricity, epidemiology, mesmerism, animal magnetism, and ships. Another large part of the collection comes from Adams’ time as chief agent at the Narragansett Print Works. This material includes correspondence with textile dealers and related business agents, mostly from Rhode Island, Hartford, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Invoices, receipts, as well as accounts for advertising, raw materials, and shipping, are also included. The collection also contains documents related to other businesses, mostly in textiles, run by Adams throughout Rhode Island. The remainder of the collection relates to the extended Adams family, including George Harvey Adams, Mary Hodges Adams, Sarah Martindale Adams, George William Brown, and others. This material includes correspondence as well as legal documents, bills and receipts, inventories of estates, financial documents, correspondence, and photographs. ...more information

  • Aldrich
    Collection of American, British, and some European (primarily French) illustrated children's books, donated to Brown University in June 1990. The appraiser's catalog included with the collection lists: Chapbooks 1780-1840 (31 items); English 1840-1952 (213 items); Pre-1835 American (11 items); American gift and miniature (5 items); American primers and prayer books (6 items); American 1835-1954 (115 items); European 1850-1940 (35 items); Reference (6 items). The total, 423 items, reflects a slightly different way of counting sets of Kate Greenaway ephemera. The collection was donated to the Library by Aldrich's nephew, Mr. David Rockefeller. ...more information

  • American Association of People with Disabilities
    This collection, ranging from 1993 to 2014, consists of an array of materials, including correspondence, scattered administrative materials, legal documentation, audio-visual cassettes, computer files, ephemera, and a few artifacts, all of which were issued by or are associated with the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the largest cross-disability membership organization in the United States. AAPD was founded in 1995 by five leaders from the diasability community, Justin Sylvia Walker, Paul Hearne, John D. Kemp, and I. King Jordan, all of whom were instrumental in advocating, drafting and passing the landmark civil rights law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. The bulk of the materials gathered here represent AAPD's continuing advocacy for the equal rights of the disability community, and are mainly associated with James C. Dickson, a prominent leader in the disability community, who was Vice President for Governmental Affairs of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), and a Brown University graduate (class of 1968). ...more information

  • Anthony (Richard H.)
    Richard H. Anthony was a Providence, Rhode Island native and Brown University graduate, class of 1925. His distinguished career included working as a journalist in Paris for the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune, where he covered the landings of Charles E. Lindburgh and Richard E. Byrd on their respective transatlantic flights in 1927. These papers include letters, family memorabilia, and a collection of autographs of Richard E. Byrd, and co-pilots Bernt Balchen, Bertand B. Acosta and George O. Noville, who accompanied him on his historic flight from New York to the coast of Normandy on July 1, 1927. ...more information

  • Anti-Saloon League

    This collection of foreign-language temperance materials was originally amassed by the Anti-Saloon League. The collection was transferred by the League to the Westerville (Ohio) Public Library, and in 1982 was donated by the Westerville Public Library to the library of the Center for Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University. In 1999, Rutgers in turn transferred the collection to the John Hay Library.

    The collection comprises approximately 15,000 items dating from the first half of the 20th century. The database linked below lists all cataloged titles and offers the ability to sort by author, title, imprint, call number and language. In addition, there is a link for the collection website on the Anti-Saloon League at the Westerville Public Library, which includes helpful background information on the League.

    ...more information

  • Audubon's Birds of America

    The double elephant folio edition of Audubon's The Birds of America was published between 1827 and 1838. Subscribers received 87 parts of 5 prints each (one large, one medium and three small prints). The series contains 435 hand colored plates of 1065 birds. "Double elephant" refers to the size of the sheet of paper, which is the largest size that can be made by hand. Each sheet measures more than two by three feet.

    There were 308 original subscribers, who paid approximately 00 for a complete set. While there were 308 original subscribers, only 161 subscribers purchased all parts. It is not possible to locate all of the complete sets. Some have been broken up and sold as individual images.

    Albert E. Lownes, Class of 1920, presented his copy (bound in six volumes) to the University on the occasion of his 50th Class Reunion in 1970. Mr. Lownes received his copy as a wedding gift.

    In addition, to the Double Elephant Folio edition, the library owns several uncolored proofs and an original printing plate, as well as other published editions of Audubon's work. ...more information

  • Bakst (M. Charles)
    These papers date from 1927-2009 and include the personal papers and materials of Merrill Charles Bakst, Brown '66 and journalist for the Providence Journal. Includes manuscripts, correspondence, notebooks, ephemera, photographs, audiocassettes and videotapes related to his student days at Brown and his career as a reporter and columnist. ...more information

  • Baptist
    Holdings in the area of religious history that reflect the University's Baptist origins. Included are the papers of many clergymen, among them Roger Williams, Isaac Backus, Samuel Jones, Thomas Ustick, Jones Very, missionaries (Adoniram Judson and Josiah Nelson Cushing) and several presidents of Brown. The records for the following churches are also available: First Baptist Church in Swansea, MA*; the Baptist Church in Warren, RI*; Shawomet Baptist Church in Warwick, RI; Meshanticut Baptist Church in Cranston, RI; Roger Williams Baptist Church in Providence, RI; Niantic Baptist Church in Westerly, RI, and the Arkwright and Fiskeville Baptist Church in Scituate, RI. There is also a sizeable collection of Baptist periodicals.

    *PLEASE NOTE: Records of the First Baptist Church of Swansea and the First Baptist Church of Warren are deposit collections, and each church retains ownership and control over its own records. Accordingly, permission is required from the appropriate church before either collection can be made available for research. Please email manuscripts@brown.edu or hay@brown.edu for further details and contact information. ...more information

  • Bartky (Sandra Lee)
    The Sandra Lee Bartky papers are comprised of correspondence, syllabi, vita material, and letters and newsclippings documenting a debate between Bartky and Christina Hoff Sommers in the early 1990s. The materials provide interesting insight into the development of feminist philosophy as an academic discipline and the debates within the field as it defines and identifies meanings of gender and feminism. ...more information

  • Beckwith (David)
    The David Beckwith papers is a significant collection of organizational records, correspondence, publications, training and funding materials relating to community development and organizing on both the local and national levels. Most of the material dates from 1980 to 1999 and represents the work of a wide range of community organizations, advocacy-based coalitions, governmental agencies and private organizations devoted to fulfilling social needs such as housing, transportation and education. The Papers also include a small but noteworthy collection of counter-culture newspapers from the mid-1960's and early 1970's. ...more information

  • Bianchi (Martha Dickinson)
    Consists of the papers of the family of Emily Dickinson, along with the 3,000 volume family library from "The Evergreens," the Dickinson home in Amherst Massachusetts. In addition to the personal papers of Martha Bianchi (including family and editorial correspondence, diaries, notes, worksheets, typescript poems, stories, plays, photographs, articles, books, and clippings) the collection includes the personal papers of Alfred Leete Hampson and his wife, Mary Landis Hampson, and includes much secondary material relating to Emily Dickinson. Supplemented by gifts from Barton St. Armand and George Monteiro, of additional items from the same source. ...more information

  • Blake (Eli Whitney) (1867-1902)
    This collection consists primarily of personal correspondence to and from Eli Whitney Blake. The letters were written by Blake, Sophia Atwater and Stephen Atwater. Also included are several drawings and poems by Blake, one photograph of him and an undated letter from a family member to a publisher regarding their interest in publishing an article about Blake's letters. ...more information

  • Broadsides
    The Broadsides Collection houses broadsides (single-sheet imprints), posters, bookplates, prints, valentines, greeting cards, postcards, and photographs. From a nucleus of 8,000 pieces in 1928, holdings have increased to over 40,000 items. Largely ephemeral by nature, broadsides are collected by only a few major libraries and historical societies in the United States. Originally issued primarily by governmental, religious, and political bodies, broadsides were later used for advertisements, programs, notices, ballad verses, elegies, and comments on contemporary events. More recently, they have become popular as exemplars of fine printing. Includes holdings of the Harris, Rider, Lincoln, Koopman, Military and general library collections. Notable areas within Harris include slip ballads and carriers' addresses. ...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

  • 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 (Charles Wilson) collection of Brown and Wilson family
    The Charles Wilson Brown collection of Brown and Wilson family papers contain correspondence, manuscripts, and photographs related to Lanta Wilson Smith (Charles Brown's aunt), Rev. Henry Wheaton Brown (Charles Brown's father) and Rev. William Jones Wilson (Charles Brown's grandfather). The correspondence is largely written to or by Lanta Wilson Smith's and includes some of her poetry; the remaining correspondence is written by or related to Rev. William Jones Wilson. Autobiographies of both Rev. Brown and Rev. Wilson can be found in the collection as can parish programs and related clippings. The photographs are of Maine churches and Rev. Wilson and his wife. ...more information

  • Brown (Harold)
    The Harold Brown papers, dated from 1878 to 1920, include legal and business documents, personal and business correspondence, two unpublished manuscripts, miscellaneous bills paid, two cashbooks and an inventory of Harold Brown's estate. ...more information

  • Brown (John Nicholas) (1861-1900)
    COLLECTION CLOSED [2/1/24] This collection is unavailable for viewing, research, display, imaging, teaching and circulation. It is pending review by the appropriate Indigenous community or communities to determine if it contains culturally sensitive information. For additional information please contact hay@brown.edu John Nicholas Brown (1861-1900) was the eldest son of John Carter Brown and Sophia Augusta (Brown) Brown, members of one of the most prominent and distinguished families in Rhode Island. The papers reflect John Nicholas Brown's passion for the arts, travel, Europe, yachts, and philanthropic and civic activities. ...more information

  • Brown (Natalie Bayard)
    Natalie Bayard Brown (1869-1950) was the wife of John Nicholas Brown (1861-1900) and mother of John Nicholas Brown (1900-1979), members of the prominent Brown family of Providence, Rhode Island. The papers reflect Natalie Bayard Brown's interests in politics and charitable causes through correspondence with family and friends, writings and speeches, scrapbooks, and photographs. The papers contain detailed financial and legal records related to John Nicholas Brown's (1900-1979) large inheritance from his father and uncle, Harold Brown. The papers also hold travel diaries and photographs from Natalie Bayard Brown and John Nicholas Brown's (1900-1979) travels in Europe, Asia, and Middle East. ...more information

  • Brown ACLU
    Collection includes two 3-ring notebooks containing information regarding the Committee to Review Non-Academic Discipline, Fall 2001 and one accordion binder. One 3-ring notebook contains discipline information from other universities. The other 3-ring notebook contains list of committee members, copies of previous Brown policies and reports, a copy of the Report on Sexual Misconduct (April 1997), memos, Brown ACLU proposal for disciplinary system reform, report drafts, and minutes and notes of meetings. The accordion binder contains Brown ACLU minutes (1998-2000), files regarding non-academic discipline at Brown, and files concerning the David Horowitz controversy. Brown ACLU Minutes, 1998-2000 are restricted. Permission to review these minutes must be granted from the Brown ACLU president. ...more information

  • Brown University Archives
    The Archives collection contains copies of the official records and publications of the University, dating from 1763, along with the papers of many of its faculty, departments, and officers. A vital part of the collection are the records student groups and organizations. The Archives also encompass papers of Brown and Pembroke alumni/ae. The collections include Brown theses and dissertations, as well as printed, manuscript, graphic, and audiovisual material about the history of Brown University. ...more information

  • Canfield (Eli Hawley)
    This collection consists of over 1100 sermons, letters, and other personal manuscripts of the Rev. Eli Hawley Canfield. The letters are mainly to his son, James Hulme Canfield, the educator, and are largely personal in nature, but the papers also include 500 of his sermons which amply illustrate many of the religious and social beliefs and issues of the forty year period following 1845. As would be expected, the sermons are essentially religious in nature, but although Canfield exhibited a stronger interest in the spiritual aspects of life than the political and moral, he does comment frequently upon life. His comments upon the Civil War, the administration of Andrew Johnson and his various Sermons to the children are of particular interest. ...more information

  • Capone, Clifford
    Photographs, correspondence, playbills, and playscripts used and created during the career of Clifford Capone who was a costume designer for theater productions and movies based in New York City. He worked for film directors Woody Allen and Gordon Willis among others. ...more information

  • Carriers Addresses
    Carriers' addresses were published by newspapers, usually on January 1, and distributed in the United States for more than two centuries. The custom originated in England and was introduced here during colonial times. The newsboys delivered these greetings in verse each New Year's Day and the customers understood that a tip was expected. The poems, often anonymous, describe the events of the past year, locally, regionally, and nationally, and end with a request for a gratuity for the faithful carrier. Often the poem referred to the carrier's diligence and hardships during winter weather. Illustrated with wood-engravings and decorative borders, carriers' addresses are distinctive examples of popular publishing in nineteenth century America. Brown University Library holds one of the largest collections of these charming works, in the Broadsides Collection and the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays. ...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

  • Chace (Elizabeth Buffum)
    This collection includes correspondence, Elizabeth Buffum Chace’s commonplace book and diary, family albums, scrapbooks, photographs, an album of familial hair locks, needlework (cross stitch samplers), newspaper clippings, and other material relating to the Buffums, the Chaces, the Cheneys, and the Tolmans. The papers also contain letters in response to Chace’s book "Anti-Slavery Reminiscences." Elizabeth Buffum Chace was an activist for prison reform, the rights of orphans, peace, and temperance. ...more information

  • Ciaraldi Comics
    The collection, housed in the John Hay Library at Brown University, was amassed by the donor, Michael J. Ciaraldi, beginning in the early 1970s, and came to the Library beginning in 1996. The majority of the collection consists of comic books published since that time, up to 1995; there are also significant sections of magazine-format comics, graphic novels, fan and collector's journals, reissues of classic "golden age" comics and newspaper strips, translations of Japanese "manga" and "anime" comics and European comic art, and compilations of the work of comic artists, as well as advertising ephemera, role-playing game materials, and adult erotica. The Collection is particularly noteworthy for its holdings of comics by the small and independent publishers of the 1970s and 1980s. Imprints are very largely American, with some British satirical graphic magazines. The total number of items in the Collection is estimated at 60,000. ...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

  • Cohen (Robert F., Jr.)
    The Robert F. Cohen, Jr. papers relate to his activist work as a student at Brown from 1964-1968, and as a community organizer in Providence and other Rhode Island communities, and New York City around welfare rights, housing discrimination and education between 1968-1972. The collection contains original materials created in the context of this work, including press releases, research notes, minutes of meetings, leaflets, and other organizing materials, as well as news clippings covering the actual events. There is also an extensive collection of publications from progressive organizations. ...more information

  • Commission on Freedom of the Press Documents and Reports
    Funded by grants from Time, Inc., and Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., the Commission on Freedom of the Press was established in 1943 to to determine if freedom of the press was in danger in the United States. The commission was also referred to as the Hutchins Commission. Commission members included Robert Hutchins, chairman; Zechariah Chaffee, vice-chairman; John M. Clark; John Dickinson; William E. Hocking; Harold Lasswell; Archibald MacLeish; Charles Merriam; Reinhold Niebuhr; Robert Redfield; Beardsley Ruml; Arthur Schlesinger; and George N. Schuster. The general report of the Commission, A Free and Responsible Press, was published by the University of Chicago Press in 1947. This collection was donated to Brown University by Zechariah Chafee, class of 1907, and consists of documents and reports issued by the New York Office for circulation among the members of the Commission. ...more information

  • Community Organizer Genealogy Project oral history interview
    The Community Organizer Genealogy Project was a special project of Center for Community Change to document the development of community organizing, the development of individual organizers and the connections among organizers, organizations and networks. They conducted oral history interviews with 100 individuals and collected biographical data on community organizers throughout the United States from 2008-2010. ...more information

  • Community Organizing
    Organized in 2006 by Brown alumni Bob Cohen (1968), Jim Dickson (1968), and Ken Galdston (1968), and co-founded with the Swearer Center for Public Service, the COA comprises collection of archival and manuscript papers of Brown alumni and students engaged in public service for the betterment of communal life in the United States through NGOs. ...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

  • Curtis (Minerva G.) diaries
    A collection of 34 leather-bound diaries, ranging from 1900 to 1941, recording the daily activities of Minerva Greenwood Curtis, a grade-school teacher in Providence, Rhode Island. The collection also includes an address book, a notebook, a loose, hand-written recipe and a newspaper clipping. ...more information

  • Davis (Sonia H. and Nathaniel A.)
    Sonia H. Davis (1883-1972), of Jewish and Ukrainian heritage, was a business woman, milliner, writer, editor, amateur journalist and publisher. She was married briefly (1924-1926) to Howard Phillips Lovecraft with whom she collaborated on several literary projects. In 1936, she married Nathaniel A. Davis (1866-1945) of Jewish and Portuguese heritage who was a writer, editor, educator, social activist, entrepreneur, world traveler, publisher, journalist and founder of Planetaryan, a humanitarian organization devoted to world peace. They were married in California and lived there for the remainder of their lives. This collection dates from 1879 to 1972 (bulk from 1930 to the early 1940s) and documents the lives and literary works of Sonia and Nathaniel. It is a good source of documentation for anyone interested in U.S. social, political and religious history, especially around the period of World War II. It is also a good source for those who are interested in American literature, especially in religious poetry and didactic literature. This collection does not include any primary source materials originating from H.P. Lovecraft, nor does it contain much by way of direct documentation about him except for a published memoir of him written by Mrs. Davis (Books at Brown, vol. XI, nos. 1-2), a copy of which is included in this collection. ...more information

  • Dexter (Robert C. and Elisabeth A.)
    Records and personal papers of sociologist and Unitarian minister Robert Cloutman Dexter (Class of 1912) and his wife, the noted historian Elisabeth Anthony Dexter. An important focus within the collection is the significant role played by the Dexters -- co-founders of the Unitarian Service Committee with Rev. Waitstill and Martha Sharp in 1937 -- in working to expedite the release of war refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe between 1938 and 1944. The collection also includes personal writings by the Dexters, as well as much information on the history of the Anthony family. ...more information

  • Dickson (James C.)
    These papers document the career of James C. Dickson (Class of 1968) as an activist and organizer for disabled individuals, primarily with the VOTE! 2000 Campaign, an effort to increase the number of voters with disabilities. Includes materials Dickson used in his efforts to increase the voting rights of disabled persons and their access to polling places. The materials contain information on poll accessibility, black voters, gay and lesbian voters, voting statistics, the motor voter law, election reforms, methods of voting, and the registration of potential voters when they apply for food stamps, Medicaid or a driver's license. Also consists of material documenting other organizing efforts involving the rights of children, especially children with disabilities, and the medical care of the elderly and people with disabilities. ...more information

  • Dixon (Nathan Fellows) Family
    The Nathan Fellows Dixon family papers consist of letters, legal documents, personal and political memorabilia and photographs relating to a Westerly, Rhode Island, family of great prominence in state and federal politics during the 19th century. The majority of the collection represents the domestic and political lives of three generations of men named Nathan Fellows Dixon, all of whom graduated from Brown University and went on to serve in the United States Congress. ...more information

  • Dorr (Thomas Wilson)
    The Library holds the papers of Thomas Wilson Dorr, 1805-1854, lawyer, politician, reformer, and central figure in Rhode Island's "Dorr War" of 1842. The Dorr collection contains letters and speeches on suffrage, elections, banks, and state politics. They are supported by 60 scrapbooks of Dorr's personal and political correspondence, law practice and other items relating to the Suffrage Party and Providence history in the Rider Collection. The collection includes a box containing personal effects relating to Dorr's prison stay. ...more information

  • Dotter (Earl)
    Photojournalist Earl Dotter joined VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) in 1968 and was assigned to the Cumberland Plateau Region of Tennessee, where he documented the culture and struggles of local families. After his VISTA assignment concluded, he remained in the area to photograph the rank-and-file movement to reform the United Mine Workers Union and the campaign to unseat union president Tony Boyle, called "Miners for Democracy" -- the subject of this collection, which includes photographs, Miller-Trobovich-Patrick campaign literature, the 1973 United Mine Workers Officers Report, and the June 15-July 15, 1976 issue of the United Mine Workers Journal. ...more information

  • Douglass (Frederick)
    The Martha Waldo Greene and Frederick Sherman Collection of Frederick Douglass papers contains a total of 26 items by and relating to Frederick Douglass (1818-1895): 19 letters and documents, 5 photographs, and 2 published books. Items span from 1845-1936, with the bulk of materials ranging from 1877-1893. Most letters are of a personal nature to friends or acquaintances; some address business, speaking engagements or publishing. Collection contains a letter from author, lawyer and African American freedom activist James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938). Other significant materials include a mortgage discharge document listing the names of Douglass and Sherman, correspondence about the Holley Graded School in Lottsburg, Virginia, established in 1868 to educate freed African Americans, and a photograph of the San Domingo Commission. ...more information

  • Dr. Bob
    The collection consists of over five thousand items, including two hundred books, dozens of pieces of memorabilia, and several hundred manuscripts (original and photocopied) and photographs once the property of "Dr. Bob," the legendary co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. The collection was purchased in November 1999 from Sue Smith Windows, Dr. Bob's daughter and donated by Esmond Harmsworth, James Abernathy, Christopher Ohrstrom, Mark Ohrstrom, and Richard Ohrstrom. Books, all from Dr. Bob's personal library, deal with religious and spiritual topics as well as the problems of addiction and recovery. Manuscripts include the notes of Dr. Bob's wife, Anne, who jotted down the spiritual principles that eventually influenced the AA movement's twelve steps; a looseleaf binder containing the mimeographed instructions on how to set up an AA meeting sent out to chapter secretaries; and some pages of Dr. Bob's letters and notes. Among the notable items in this collection are the coffee pot that Dr. Bob and Bill W. first used to sober up in 1935.

    Visitors should note that there is no permanent display of materials from the Dr. Bob Collection, although the memorabilia can be paged upon request.

    NOTE: Researchers using this collection are asked to abide by the Anonymity Guidelines for the Brown University Library AA Collections. ...more information

  • duCille (Ann)
    This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Ann duCille, Professor of English, Emerita at Wesleyan University and Inaugural Distinguished Professor in Residence for the Black Feminist Theory Project at the Pembroke Center, Brown University. DuCille is a scholar of African-American literature, cultural studies, and Black feminist theory. Materials include family photographs, personal and professional correspondence, draft writings, research materials, and annotated books. Materials date from 1945 to 2020, but the bulk of the materials date from 1965 to 2020. ...more information

  • Eberstadt

    The Eberstadt Collection of Western Pioneer Narratives was given in 1977 as a memorial to Charles F. Eberstadt, Class of 1934, one of the nation's leading booksellers of Americana. Among its 300 volumes are crudely printed journals written by emigrants as they crossed the plains to California during the Gold Rush of 1849 as well as minor classics of the West published in fine editions by John Henry Nash and the Grabhorn Press. The narratives describe buffalo hunts, Indian encounters and captivities, outlaws, disasters, trading and trapping, stage coach driving, the frontier Army, and everyday life for the pioneers.

    A title list may be retrieved by performing an "author" search for "Eberstadt Collection" in JOSIAH.
    ...more information

  • Elliott (Maud Howe)

    Correspondence (mostly dating between 1890 and 1940), manuscripts, lectures and scrapbooks of a Newport-based literary figure who was the daughter of the poet Julia Ward Howe and activist Samuel Gridley Howe, and wife of the artist John Elliott. The collection includes unpublished manuscripts for Elliott's memoirs "Afternoon Tea" and "Memories of Eighty Years." ...more information

  • Fells Library
    A collection of books compiled by the family and descendants of John Milton Hay (1838-1905) at the Hay family summer home on Lake Sunapee near Newport, New Hampshire. The collection represents the taste and reading habits primarily of John Hay and his son, ethnologist Clarence Leonard Hay (1884-1969), as well as John Hay's wife Clara and daughters Alice and Helen (a poet and children's book author), and Clarence Hay's wife Alice Appleton and son John (born 1915, a renowned nature writer). Many titles were author presentation copies to members of the Hay family, and a some contain personal inscriptions. A few volumes may have been added later by staff at the Fells as references on the Hay family and their social circle. ...more information

  • Feminist Press
    The Feminist Press was founded in 1970 by Florence Howe as an independent nonprofit literary publisher of feminist literature. The records include correspondence relating to books published and in progress; in-house reports, memos, and other items; book manuscripts and proofs, files dealing with the production of books, permissions, and domestic and international projects; general subject files; correspondence etc. about rejected manuscripts; and documentation of the founding (1971) and history of the press, including minutes and reports. Editorial files for authors published by the press include, among others, those for Alice Cook, Elizabeth Janeway, Meridel Le Sueur, Paule Marshall, Louise Meriwether, Naomi Mitchinson, Robin Morgan, Toni Morrison, Tillie Olsen, Grace Paley, Jo Sinclair, Alice Walker, and Dorothy West. There are also contracts with authors; royalty statements and related papers; fundraising records; files dealing with marketing, customer service, and foreign rights; proposals and rejections for new books; and general administrative, business, and financial records. In addition there are printed catalogs and publicity items; reprints; book design and examples of covers and dust jackets; and tapes, slides, photographs, and miscellaneous printed items. Filed separately are records of Women's studies quarterly from its beginning in 1972. ...more information

  • Fradkin (Irving A.)
    The Dr. Irving A. Fradkin papers date from 1956 to 2002 and relate to the founding and development of the Citizens' Scholarship Foundation of America, now Scholarship America. ...more information

  • Francis Family correspondence
    This collection contains correspondence from George Blinn Francis and Henry Newton Francis to their family members in West Hartford, CT. Both George and Henry worked as civil engineers on reservoir projects in Rhode Island during the entire time period of this correspondence, 1875-1882. Henry worked on the Fruit Hill Reservoir in North Providence, RI and George worked on the Sockanoset Reservoir and a reservoir in Pettanoset. They both worked for Samuel Merrill Gray who was the Engineer for the City of Providence during at least part of that time. The content of the correspondence is primarily family news and pleas for them to write. Information about the work on the reservoirs is limited but they do discuss how many men are working, their desires for pay raises, and Henry provides a sketch of the hut built for the engineers at Fruit Hill Reservoir. George's letter dated February 6, 1881 describes skating on Narragansett Bay during a cold snap. Henry provides a lot of details about work on his home - putting down carpets, painting, wall-papering, cleaning, installing a new stove, and purchasing new furniture. ...more information

  • French American Charitable Trust (FACT)
    The French American Charitable Trust was founded in 1990 by the Feeney family, a family with roots in France and the United States, to address fundamental inequalities and injustices in society. Their mission was to help develop and sustain networks of community-based groups in the United States and France that educate, organize, and empower people to actively participate in developing public policies that directly affect their lives. They spent all of the money in the endowment between 1990 and 2012 and closed the foundation in 2012. ...more information

  • Frost (Edwin Collins) and William Henry Frost
    This collection, dating from 1890 to 1941, consists of letters addressed to both Edwin Collins Frost (1867-1956) and William Henry Frost (1863-1902) and a small autograph collection. Edwin Collins Frost was an assistant and instructor of rhetoric at Brown University from 1895 to 1898 and the cataloguer of Marsden J. Perry's Shakespeare Collection from 1901 to 1907. William Henry Frost joined the New York Tribune in 1887 as a reporter and drama critic and was the author of four books for children. ...more information

  • Galdston (Kenneth A.)
    These materials document the education and career in community organizing of Kenneth A. Galdston (Brown, 1968). Over the course of his career, Galdston was a community organizer in North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Buffalo, New York, and Massachusetts. The collection contains literature on community organizing, detailed meeting notes, periodicals, class notes from Brown University, newspaper clippings, and appointment books. ...more information

  • Gay Pulp Fiction
    A growing collection of over 4,700 volumes of gay men's pulp fiction. They range in date from 1933-1997 with the bulk published during 1953-1997. A small number of lesbian-interest titles are included. The collection began with the acquisition of a large private collection and has been supplemented with various purchases and gifts by works from two other collections of gay literature, the Scott O'Hara Papers, and the James Jackson bequest. See searchable database. Stored off-site. ...more information

  • Glass (Jodi L.)
    The Jodi Glass papers provide rich documentation of the inner workings of feminist organizations and movements in Rhode Island and beyond. Included in the collection are the correspondence, essays, news clippings, legislation, agendas, and minutes of a number of groups and movements, including the Rhode Island Feminist Chorus, Feminist Resources Unlimited and the anti-pornography movement. ...more information

  • Gorham

    Archival records (approximately 6,200 linear feet, dating from 1831 to 2005) of the company founded in 1831 by silversmith Jabez Gorham in Providence, Rhode Island, and expanded under the leadership of his son John in the 1840s. At various times the company was the largest manufacturer of silver products, producer and distributor of ecclesiastical wares, and art bronze foundry in the United States.

    The collection features many thousands of drawings and photographs of Gorham products, reflecting American taste from Victorian times to the present. It also contains corporate, personnel, costing, sales, and advertising records, as well as blueprints, plaster casts, and copper printing plates. Incorporated into the collection are the records of fourteen companies acquired by Gorham prior to its acquisition by larger companies, first by Textron Inc., then by Dansk International, and finally by Brown-Forman Corporation in 1991.

    The Gorham Manufacturing Company records are not processed. A small portion of the records is accessible. See the Research Guide and the Inventory of Accessible Records linked below for further information.

    ...more information

  • Grolier Club
    The Grolier Club records, 1891-2009, include papers and materials of the Grolier Club of New York, America's oldest and largest society for bibliophiles and literary enthusiasts. The collection includes manuscripts, correspondence and ephemera related to the organization and its members. This is an artificial collection compiled over the years from donations made by W. Easton Louttit, Albert E. Lownes, and Samuel Streit ...more information

  • Gund (Catherine)
    This collection contains the professional and activist files of Catherine Gund, film and television producer, director, writer, and activist whose work focuses on AIDS and the LGBTQIA+ community. Gund is the founder of Aubin Pictures, a nonprofit documentary film company, and a member of the Brown University class of 1988. Materials include correspondence, clippings, and handwritten notes from Gund’s consultancy and board work; research, production, and post-production materials for various films and television shows by Gund; and magazines, newspapers, journals and zines. Materials date from 1971 to 2020. ...more information

  • Hall-Hoag

    Contains documents representing a broad spectrum of militant political, social and religious dissent in the United States, from the post-World War II period to the present. The Collection currently exceeding 168,000 items emanating from over 5,000 organizations, constitutes the country's largest research collection of right and left wing U.S. extremist groups, from 1950 to 1999.

    The collection began when Gordon Hall, a young veteran of the Pacific Theatre during the war, first encountered the printed propaganda issued by domestic hate-your-neighbor organizations/groups in the late 1940's. He supported his investigations and research of these organizations by giving public lectures about them. Materials from all corners of the country were collected, enabling him to document statements made in lectures as well as in a growing number of expository articles written for newspapers and magazines.

    Grace Hoag, an alumna of Smith College, began collaboration with Hall during the 1960's, assisting the research and investigation and expanding the collection beyond its initial emphasis.

    Includes publications of Anti-Abortion organizations; Anti-Integrationist organizations; Anti-Semitic and Racist political parties; Christian Identity organizations; Communist organizations; Communist political parties; Communist publishers; Congressional investigating committees; Cults and Alternative religions; Extreme Left-Wing publishers; Ku Klux Klan organizations; LaRouche organizations; Marxist-Leninist organizations; Militant Anti-Communist organizations; Militant Populist organizations; Neo-Nazi organizations; Pacifist organizations; Pro-choice abortion organizations; Racial and Ethnic Consciousness organizations; Right-Wing Christian religious organizations; Right-Wing publishers; Socialist organizations; and Women's movement left and right organizations

    Please Note: The Library has temporarily suspended digitization requests for materials from the Gordon Hall and Grace Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Printed Propaganda, Parts I and II, 1926-2000.The Library is in the process of digitizing large portions of the collection over the next 3 years (2022-2025). In order to complete this significant digitization project the Library must close large portions of the collection for periods of time.

    Hall-Hoag materials that are not actively being digitized are available for in-person research. Please complete the Ask Us form if you are interested in looking at particular organizations or need information about scheduling a reading room visit.

    ...more information

  • Hanna (Muriel Marjorie Boos)
    The Muriel Marjorie Boos Hanna papers consist primarily of poetry by Muriel Hanna (dating from 1976 to 1989), drafts, notes and a draft of a compilation of poems, as well as a printed collection. An active member of the Rhode Island State Poetry Society, Hanna wrote of nature, family, and personal experiences in her poems. Included in the papers are poems by Hanna's grandmother, Emma Doan (Evans) Nicholas, whose poems describe her life a farm in New Jersey, provide information about the Grange, and gender roles in rural life in the early twentieth century. ...more information

  • Harris (Louise)
    Hattie Louise Harris was born on September 28, 1903 in Warwick, Rhode Island. She was the daughter of Samuel P. Harris and Faustine Borden Harris. Miss Harris graduated from Pembroke College at Brown University in 1926, where she majored in economics. Miss Harris is best known for her historical research concerning the history and authorship of the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and for her writing regarding C.A. Stephens, a medical doctor who wrote for the magazine The Youth’s Companion from 1871 until his death in 1931. She published several books regarding the American flag and the history and authorship of the Pledge of Allegiance, including The Flag over the Schoolhouse (1971), Old Glory: Long May She Wave (1981) and Time for Truth (1987). The Louise Harris papers include a variety of materials, chiefly correspondence, research materials and galley proofs, related to her writings concerning C.A. Stephens, The Youth's Companion, and the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. The papers also include personal correspondence; certificates and plaques from various organizations; scrapbooks related to her book A Chuckle and a Laugh: A Tale of the C.A. Stephens Collection; printed material such as magazines, journals, and newspapers; photographs, microfilms, audiocassettes and items related to her interst in geneology. The material in these papers is dated from 1890 to 1990. Most is dated between 1960 and 1985. ...more information

  • Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays
    The Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays is composed of approximately 250,000 volumes of American and Canadian poetry, plays, and vocal music dating from 1609 to the present day. It is perhaps the largest and most comprehensive collection of its kind in any research library. The works of most well-known (and many thousands of little-known) American and Canadian poets and playwrights, from the 18th century to the present day, are held comprehensively. There are significant holdings of early American literature, hymnals, songsters, little magazines, contemporary fine printing, extensive collections on Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe, women's writings, gay and lesbian literature, modern first editions, Yiddish-American literature, and French-Canadian literature. The Collection is fully cataloged, with records available in Josiah, the Library's online catalog.. Includes periodicals, broadsides, recordings, films, electronic resources, manuscripts, prints and photographs. ...more information

  • Hawkins (Rush)
    The Rush Hawkins collection (1750-1951(bulk 1830-1917)) contains personal, family, financial, and military correspondence and documents; photographs; and a variety of museum objects ranging from dinnerware and household items to clothing and personal accessories belonging to the Hawkins and Brown families. Most of the collection reflects the life and interests of Hawkins himself, with some items related to his wife Annmary Brown Hawkins and her family. Included in the papers are two significant sub-collections of correspondence: a collection of antebellum historical letters and documents from earlier generations of the Brown family, as well as individual letters from Thomas Jefferson, Nathaniel Greene, Edgar Allan Poe, and Napoleon I; and a collection of Civil War-related correspondence and documents that contains records of Hawkins' Zouaves and much Confederate material, including a subseries of Jefferson Davis's communications to the Senate of the Confederate States. ...more information

  • Hay (John,1915-2011)
    The collection represents a portion of the letters, journals, manuscripts and research materials of the Burroughs medal winning naturalist, writer and poet John Hay (1915-2011). ...more information

  • Hedges (Elaine)
    Elaine Ryan Hedges (1927-1997) was a pioneer in the field of Women's Studies, and founder of the Women's Studies curriculum at Towson State University. A noted expert on women in literature, in the mid-1970s she turned her focus to women's domestic arts as a medium of intellectual expression. Comprising books (many with detailed annotations), papers, manuscripts, graphic images and correspondence, the collection documents her avid attention to the intimate details of women's lives.

    The critical focus of the collection was Hedges' long term research interest in women's quilts and quilt-making. The book collection represents a scholar's working library on this topic. Though it covers quilting world-wide, material on American quilts represents the bulk of the collection. It includes a range of historical surveys, state by state overviews, pattern books, exhibition catalogs and documentation on ethnic and political themes in quilting, particularly by African Americans and Native Americans.
    ...more information

  • Humphrey (James)
    This collection consists of the literary and personal papers of the poet James Humphrey. It includes correspondence with poets, publishers, friends and family; manuscripts for poems, novels, screenplays, essays and short stories, both published and unpublished; unframed abstract artwork, photographs and scrapbooks. The audio material in these papers consists of one audiocassette, two compact discs and eight reel-to-reel tapes. The papers are dated from 1957 to 2009. ...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

  • Inman (Arthur Crew)
    Correspondence, poems, fiction, drama, essays, galley proofs, and printed notices or reviews of the published work of an Atlanta-born 20th century American poet. Collection includes transcripts of correspondence of Gen. George Pickett and his wife, LaSalle Corbell Pickett, from which Inman prepared an edited volume. Correspondents include George P. Baker, Alice H. Bartlett, Gamaliel Bradford, Abbie F. Brown, Edgar Guest, DuBose Heyward, Walter Lippmann, Josephine Peabody, H. L. Mencken, Bliss Perry, and Edward A. Robinson. ...more information

  • Jackson (James)
    Approximately 1,900 titles in the area of gay/lesbian literature, much of it dating from the pre-Stonewall era. The Jackson Collection contains many titles not proviously owned by Brown and virtually all are in very good condition and retain their dust jackets. There are a quite a few lesbian-related titles which fills in a gap in our existing holdings and quite a few gay-related science fiction and fantasy titles which complement one of existing collection strengths. Quite a few of the books are signed or inscribed, this being particularly true of the post-Stonewall titles. ...more information

  • John Birch Society
    The John Birch Society records include audio-visual material such as audiocassettes, films, filmstrips, phonograph records, reel-to-reel tapes, slides and videocassettes; business records, correspondence, manuscripts, membership lists, office files, publications and subject files. The publications represented include The Review of the News, The John Birch Bulletin, and American Opinion. A major topic is the Society's campaign against the ratification of the Panama Canal Treaties during the 1970's. The records are dated from 1928 to 1990 with the bulk dated from 1965 to 1989. ...more information

  • John Birch Society pamphlets
    The John Birch Society pamphlets consist primarily of pamphlets and reprints of magazine articles that reflect right-wing political views on such issues as the Civil Rights movement, the protests against the war in Vietnam during the 1960's, communism, drug use, popular music and culture, pornography, race relations, and sex education in American schools. Most were published or reprinted by the John Birch Society. The pamphlets are dated from 1928 to 1990, but most are dated between 1960 and 1970. ...more information

  • Just Say No Campaign collection
    This collection contains material, chiefly photographs, related to the "Just Say No" campaign against drug use from 1985 to 1996. It also includes some correspondence to and from the Just Say No Foundation and Just Say No International, slides, negatives, videocassettes and a workbook. ...more information

  • Katharine Gibbs School
    The Katharine Gibbs School was founded in 1911 by Katharine Gibbs in Providence, RI. It was originally called the Providence School for Secretaries but was renamed for its founder in 1920. The school enrolled only women and trained them to be secretaries with a focus on typing skills, spelling, grammar and social etiquette. As technology changed the school did also, becoming a coeducational institution offering courses in Word Processing, Graphic Design, Criminal Justice, Computer Technology, Health Care Administration, Hotel and Restaurant Management, Fashion Design and Merchandise, and Business Administration. All branches of the school closed in 2011. This collection contains records and artifacts related to the Katharine Gibbs School dating from 1929-2009.

    The John Hay Library does not maintain student records for the Katharine Gibbs School. Individuals looking for student records should contact:

    Perdoceo Education Corporation
    231 Martingale Road
    Schaumburg, IL 60173
    (847) 781-3600
    Website: https://www.perdoceoed.com/About-Perdoceo-Education/Contact-Us ...more information

  • Katzoff (Richard G.)
    The collection, named in honor of Richard G. Katzoff and housed in the John Hay Library at Brown University, consists primarily of literary works relating to gays and lesbians, with a small component of history and sociology; most are U.S. publications. The core of the Collection is the gift of books, primarily novels dating from the 1970s and 1980s, received in 1991 from the estate of Richard Katzoff, supplemented by the library and personal writings of John Preston, journalist, author and editor of gay literature (the Library also houses Preston's papers). In addition, the Collection includes the publications of Larry Townsend (sadomasochistic fiction and pictorial erotica), many books from the library of Edmund White, an extensive collection of contemporary lesbian fiction, and many other smaller donations of gay and lesbian writings. Materials continue to be added to the Collection by gift and purchase; an endowment has been established for that purpose by the Katzoff family. More recent acquisitions include the Gay Pulp Fiction collection containing over 4,700 titles of gay pulp fiction published between 1933-1997 with the bulk created during 1953-1997. ...more information

  • Keddy (Jane L.)
    The Keddy papers contain correspondence, research notes on index cards, brochures, museum handbooks, photocopies of entire chapters from books being used for research, maps and other illustrations along with extensive drafts of a proposed 1000 plus page biography of Samuel de Champlain. Other material includes personal correspondence on topics as diverse as feminism, safe drinking water and theology, professional correspondence in Jane Keddy's capacity as the editor/owner of Parameter Press and a folder of correspondence with potential publishers of the Champlain manuscript. ...more information

  • Kikel (Rudy)
    These papers represent a comprehensive portrait of Rudy Kikel, a distinguished gay poet, scholar, and journalist, and a staunch supporter of gay and lesbian writers and artists. Kikel was also the arts and entertainment editor for Bay Windows, New England's leading LGBT weekly, beginning in 1983 when it was first established until he retired in 2004. This collection consists of a variety of materials, the bulk of which date from the early 1960s to 2004. It includes an extensive compilation of manuscripts of Kikel's poetry, copies of his scholarly and professional writings, an assortment of significant LGBT periodicals, and correspondence from many acclaimed gay poets, including Thom Gunn, Richard Howard, Felice Picano, Paul Monette, and James Merrill, to cite just a few. ...more information

  • King (Rufus)
    Rufus King was a lawyer and a national leader of the movement to decriminalize narcotics. He also wrote extensively about organized crime, drug laws, and gambling. This collection contains general correspondence, newspaper clippings, personal notes on specific drugs and their effects, legal notes, drafts and correspondence regarding his book The Drug Hang Up and several of his articles, along with Congressional bills and reports. ...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

  • Kurtz (Ernest) Alcoholism

    Assembled by Ernest Kurtz, beginning in the 1970s. the major strengths of this collection are interviews with and testimonials by alcoholics, and talks given at various workshops. Subjects covered include personal narratives by individuals suffering and recovering from alcoholism. Materials include audio tapes and cassettes.

    NOTE: Researchers using this collection are asked to abide by the Anonymity Guidelines for the Brown University Library AA Collections. ...more information

  • Langdon (William Chauncey)
    Collection of pageants directed and organized by Langdon, founder and President of the American Pageant Association, and also includes scripts, correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia relating to other pageants of the early 20th century. Some pageants are classified in the Harris Collection, but most of them are part of the Langdon Papers. ...more information

  • Lewis (David C.)
    The David C. Lewis papers contain information on his efforts to collect historical collections concerning alcoholism and his work at the local, state and federal level concerning alcoholism and addiction, as well as administrative materials on the founding of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown. The collection contains correspondence, legal papers, memoranda, writings, printed materials, meeting minutes, audiovisual materials and financial papers including appraisals of collections which David Lewis had acquired or was exploring acquiring for the Brown University library. ...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

  • Linton (William James)
    The William James Linton Papers of Brown University contains material reflecting the three major spheres of activity--literary, artistic, and political--to which Linton chiefly devoted himself during the course of his long life. The literary manuscripts, correspondence to and from Linton, sketchbooks, drawings, and photographs, which comprise the chief part of this collection, are materials which will serve the researcher in good stead in attempting to understand Linton's various achievements. When considered in conjunction with the large holdings of printed Linton materials in various collections elsewhere within the Brown University Library, the papers comprising the Linton Papers described here take on added significance, insofar as they serve well to complement those printed holdings. Special interest may attach to some of the literary manuscripts in this collection, "Love's Diary", "Mr. Joseph", and "Blue-Beard", which are as yet unpublished. The researcher may also be especially interested in the correspondence involving noteworthy personalities, such as Winslow Homer, Christina Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, et al. ...more information

  • Littlefield (Katherine Frances)
    The Katherine Frances Littlefield papers chronicles the early professional life of a 1902 graduate of Pembroke College at Brown University through letters to her mother from 1905-1909. The letters focus on the establishment of her professional career and family matters. ...more information

  • Lord (Augustus Mendon)
    The Augustus Mendon Lord collection includes correspondence, documents, and autographs of prominent figures from the period 1778 through 1908. The bulk of the correspondence pertains to American politicians, particularly members of Congress, and dates from 1876 through 1908. However, the collection also contains autographs and documents from American and European military, scientific, literary, and artistic figures. ...more information

  • Lovell family
    The Lovell family papers were compiled by Malcolm R. Lovell, Jr. They range in date from 1790 to 1911, with the primary focus being the period between 1800 and 1860. The range of subjects covered is equally broad, including religion and spirituality, slavery, family life, and student life at Brown University. Religion is at the core of this collection. The story depicted in the collection of nearly 850 letters, journals, clippings, sermons and other materials is that of a family struggling with its convictions about religion. These convictions are apparent in nearly all portions of the collection, from the sermons of Shubael Lovell to the letters and journals of his children. ...more information

  • Lownes (Albert Edgar) on Henry David Thoreau
    The Albert E. Lownes Collection on Henry David Thoreau was received in 1967 as a gift from Albert E. Lownes, Class of 1920. It consists of over 1,000 items, and includes books by Thoreau, later editions of his writing, biographical and critical works, and books from his personal library. It contains first editions for each of Thoreau's separately published books and pamphlets as well as a virtually complete selection of his contrib utions to periodicals. Of particular note are a number of annotated volumes from Thoreau's personal library and original manuscript fragments from his Journals, The Maine Woods, and A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.

    There are also periodicals, engravings, photographs, a striking original sketch of Thoreau, maps, broadsides, museum objects, and other memorabilia. The Collection includes a number of Thoreau letters, college papers and journal excerpts.

    Especially noteworthy is an album entitled "Concordia", a collection of autograph letters, portraits, and original sketches of Concord personalities, compiled by Rev. Moncure Daniel Conway. ...more information

  • Luce (Nancy)
    The Nancy Luce Papers comprise manuscripts poems, accounts, journals, photographs, family papers and clippings that cover the period from 1725 to 1964. ...more information

  • Lutz (Catherine)
    This collection consists of the professional papers of Catherine Lutz, the Thomas J. Watson, Jr. Family Professor of International Studies and Professor of Anthropology at Brown University. Materials date from 1973-2016 and include correspondence, conference materials, handwritten notes, clippings, and drafts documenting Lutz's research in military, war and society; automobility and inequality; and United States twentieth century history and ethnography. ...more information

  • Man (Mary)
    The Mary Man Literary Manuscripts consist of twenty items that fall within the years 1765 and 1812. They contain copy-books, notebooks, and other manuscripts of Mary Man, with original and copied verse on mostly religious themes, as well as biblical and sermon extracts. Also included are manuscripts by Thomas Man, Mary Howe, Olive Fisk, Sukey Fisk, and unidentified authors. ...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

  • McConoughey (Artha May)

    The Artha May McConoughey Papers consist of travel diaries, temperance speeches, law school assignments, photographs, and personal artifacts. All of the written material is from McConoughey's own hand; most of it was composed during the first quarter of the 20th century when she came of age and became active in the temperance and women's suffragist movements in the Chicago area. ...more information

  • McLoughlin (William Gerald)
    Professor William Gerald McLoughlin taught history at Brown University from 1954-1992 and was an active and vocal participant professionally and personally in all of the issues and events during those years: freedom of speech, civil rights, racial equality, gender equality (Louis Lamphere sex discrimination case), nuclear energy, improving the Providence education system, the Vietnam War, divestment from South Africa, and US intervention in Nicaragua during the 1980s. His papers are particularly useful for studying the changes in America and their effect s at Brown University during his tenure. His major areas of scholarship were religion in America (particularly Baptists and Evangelicals), the Cherokee Indian Nation, antislavery movement, African Americans, and Rhode Island history. This collection contains research notes and subject files for his many research topics, drafts for some of his published books, correspondence with colleagues and friends, minutes for meetings of the various committees at Brown and in the community on which he served, and newspaper clippings for topics of importance to him. ...more information

  • Meshanticut Park Community Baptist Church
    The Meshanticut Park Community Baptist Church in Cranston, RI was founded in 1905 when the Rhode Island Baptist State Convention bought the church building from the Congregational Society. The congregation struggled during their first decades, and it was not until the 1920s that they hired a settled minister. The 1940s ushered in a dramatic increase in the population of Cranston and the Meshanticut Park Community Church. They outgrew the old chapel on Cranston Street, so they built a new meetinghouse at 180 Oaklawn Avenue in 1950. The congregation prospered until the 1970s when the church declined somewhat, paralleling the experience of the Baptist denomination. By 2000, the church had various problems and issues of conflict. The last pastor, who took over in September 2004, was Robert Lancia who drew his inspiration and models from Robert Schuller (the Crystal Cathedral) and Rick Warren (Saddleback Baptist Church). Lancia sought to remake Meshanticut Park including renaming it “The Orchard Church” in 2008. The church dissolved in 2011 and the building was sold to the Evangelical Euphrates Armenian Church. The records date from 1932-2010 and contain Board of Trustee minutes, Church Council minutes, newsletters, documents about the church building, scattered membership records, and photographs dating from the early 2000s. This is part of the Rhode Island Baptist Heritage Center collection. ...more information

  • Metcalf
    An extraordinarily diverse collection of pamphlets donated by the Hon. Theron Metcalf, Class of 1805. It is the Library's principal collection of American, English and Irish pamphlet literature of the 17th through the 19th centuries.

    A distinguished jurist and author on legal subjects, Metcalf was an avid collector of pamphlet literature. He added periodically to the collection after giving it to Brown and, at his death in 1875, it included well over 10,000 items.

    The collection includes ordination, election-day and dedicatory sermons, Fourth of July orations, plus pamphlets on the Civil War and slavery, the Irish question, Mormonism, agriculture, medicine and women's suffrage to name but a few categories. Pamphlets were bound into thematic volumes, and the call numbers represent the individual volumes. ...more information

  • Metcalf (Edward De Forest)
    Edward De Forest Metcalf (1924-1968) was a Providence writer of poetry and short stories. Metcalf's papers contain numerous drafts and fragments as well as complete literary works. Included in the papers is a compilation Edward De Forest Metcalf's writings that was published after his death by his father, George T. Metcalf. ...more information

  • Miller
    The Miller Collection, consisting of approximately 40,000 volumes, is the personal library of Bernard, Saul, and George Miller, amassed over a period of fifty years and donated to Brown University in the early 1990s. The Collection consists primarily of 20th-century American imprints, but also includes significant sections of 19th-century joke books, British imprints, and works in Russian, Hebrew, French, German, and Italian. The Collection includes early humor material, such as Joe Miller's Jests, or The Wit's Vade-Mecum (London, 1739), and Yankee Notions, or, The American Joe Miller, by Sam Slick (London, 1839). There are also sections of comic novels, familiar essays by humorists, political satire, light verse, theatrical memoirs of comedy performers, vaudeville routines, collections of political cartoons, paperback joke and cartoon books, and playscripts; and a notable section of "Army joke books", pulp periodicals from the World War II era.

    Materials in this collection, which comprise a part of the cultural and historical record, depict offensive and objectionable perspectives, imagery, and norms. ...more information

  • Needmor Fund
    The Needmor Fund is a family foundation established in Toledo, Ohio in 1956 by Duane and Virginia Stranahan with income from the Champion Spark Plug business. It focuses on funding community organizing efforts to create a more equitable and just society. The records document the activities of the Needmor Fund from the the 1970's to the early 21st century and include correspondence, grant applications, pamphlets, seminar brochures, notes from site visits, speeches, and publications. Within the Needmor Fund Collection, the Kathy Partridge papers include material related to gay and lesbian issues. ...more information

  • Newcomb (Charles King)
    Manuscript letters, journals, commonplace books and other papers relating to Providence Transcendentalist Charles King Newcomb and his family.

    Newcomb was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1820 and was graduated from Brown University in 1837. Introduced by his mother, Rhoda Mardenbrough Newcomb, to the teacher and writer Margaret Fuller, Newcomb became part of her literary circle in Providence in the late 1830s and was in turn introduced by her to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Through Emerson, Newcomb met other writers identified with Transcendentalism such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau. Although Emerson encouraged Newcomb as a writer and solicited material from him for publication in The Dial, Newcomb submitted only the first part of his tale entitled "The Two Dolons" to that publication. He nevertheless remained friends with Emerson until the latter's death, even though Emerson was disappointed that he did not publish more. Newcomb resided for a time at Brook Farm but eventually returned to Providence. He served briefly with the Tenth Rhode Island Volunteers during the Civil War, and following the death of his mother, lived in Philadelphia from 1865 to 1871, where he wrote a series of more than one thousand erotic poems titled "Songs, Epigrams, and Sonnets of Love." Newcomb lived in Europe from 1871 onward and is believed to have died in Paris in 1894.

    The collection includes many letters and a commonplace book of his mother, as well as the signed autograph poem entitled "The Crucifixion" by Newcomb, dated 10 April 1860.

    Source: Alfred G. Litton, from The American Renaissance in New England, Second Series (Gale Group, 2000) in Gale Literature Dictionary of Literary Biography. ...more information

  • Newton Family
    Manuscript copies of 18th and 19th century broadside verse, made by members of the Newton family, chiefly Mrs. Miriam Newton and Miss Nancy Newton, with an occasional original piece; accounts, genealogies, verse and prose; copies of sermons; excerpts from religious books; biographies of famous people; accounts of local weather; newsworthy local events. Compiled mostly in Southboro, Massachusetts, and Marlboro, New Hampshire. ...more information

  • Niantic Baptist Church
    The records of the Niantic Baptist Church include annual reports, treasurer's reports and expense records, membership lists, minutes, contracts for the pastors and miscellaneous documents. These records document that last years of the church from 1987 to 2012. This is part of the Rhode Island Baptist Heritage Center collection. ...more information

  • Nicholson (Nellie B.)
    This collection contains a scrapbook compiled by Nellie B. Nicholson, Brown University class of 1911. Nicholson is believed to be the fifth Black woman graduate from Pembroke College, the women's college in Brown University, and was a leading advocate for Black women's right to vote. She was an educator in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, for over 40 years. The scrapbook includes 172 photographs of friends and family members, Pembroke College campus buildings and women's athletics, house mates at 45 East Transit Street in Providence, and post-graduation travels and work. Many of these include handwritten captions. The scrapbook also includes programs for various events primarily at Brown, ribbons from events, and dried flowers and stems. Materials in this scrapbook date from 1906 to 1917, but the bulk of the items date from 1910 - 1911. ...more information

  • O'Hara
    Literary and personal papers, 1979-1998, of Scott O'Hara (1961-1998), pornographic film actor, author, magazine publisher, also containing publications that include material by or about him.

    The gay pulp paperbacks acquired as part of this collection are listed in the Gay Pulp Fiction database. ...more information

  • Occult
    The collection deals primarily with alchemy, the interpretation of dreams, mysticism, black magic and the Kabbalah plus visionary testaments and manifestations of all kinds. Includes rare editions of early occult books and numerous chronicles of demonology, secret societies, theosophical orders, and ancient mystery religions. Among the works on sorcery and supernatural events are several on American witchcraft and the Salem trials. The collection reflects Damon's fascination with alchemy, mysticism, symbolism and theosophy. ...more information

  • On Our Backs
    The archive of the lesbian periodical, On Our Backs. The library also holds a run of the periodical. See Josiah record. ...more information

  • Oral history interviews concerning ACT UP of Rhode Island an
    Oral history interviews conducted in 1993 by Peter Cohen with AIDS activists who were involved with the group ACT UP in Rhode Island and New York. The interviews were used as part of Peter Cohen's dissertation research at Brown University and used extensively in his subsequent publication: Love and Anger: Essays on AIDS, Activism, and Politics (Haworth Press, 1998). ...more information

  • Paterson (William)
    The William Paterson Papers, dating from 1919-2003, includes photographs, plays in manuscript, an autobiography in manuscript, a pen and ink drawing, clippings, military decorations, acting awards, pamphlets, and other documents. Paterson, a Brown University graduate (Class of 1941) and a World War II veteran, was an actor by profession. He joined the Cleveland Playhouse in 1947 and worked there for the next 20 years. In 1967 he joined the American Conservatory Theatre where he remained for over 30 years. He also occasionally performed in television and film productions. ...more information

  • Pearson (Hugh)
    Hugh Pearson (1957-2005) was an author and political commentator interested in racism in America and the history of African Americans. He wrote numerous newspaper articles and 3 books: The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power in America (1994); Under the Knife: How a Wealthy Negro Surgeon Wielded Power in the Jim Crow South (2000); and When Harlem Nearly Killed King: The 1958 Stabbing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., (2002). His papers contain personal and professional correspondence, copies of his published articles, research files, notebooks, photographs, audiovisual materials, and manuscripts for his books. ...more information

  • Poland (William Carey)
    William Carey Poland (1846-1929) was a member of the Class of 1868, and subsequently professor of Classics at Brown from 1870 to 1892. After his return from a sabbatical year in Greece in 1892, he was named the first Professor in the History of Art at Brown. He later served as President of the Rhode Island School of Design (1896-1907), but continued to teach the history of art at Brown until his retirement in 1915. Poland House, a residence hall on the Brown campus, is named for him.

    The William Carey Poland Papers consist of 9 diaries and 24 photographs dating from around 1860 to 1910. Two of the diaries are in the hand of Clara (Harkness) Poland and one is in the hand of William Poland Jr. The photographs in the collection include various images of the Poland family as well of Prof. Poland at an archaeological dig, probably in Greece. ...more information

  • Poulin Comics
    The Wayne D. Poulin Collection includes over 10,000 comic books, primarily from the 1970s and 1980s. It consists primarily of "superhero" comics of the perio. Donated by Brown University Professor Barton St. Armand. ...more information

  • Preston (John)
    John Preston authored over 30 books, ranging from fiction and erotica to such important non-fiction titles as Personal Dispatches: Writers Confront AIDS and Hometowns: Gay Men Write About Where They Belong. The Preston archive is especially important in that it contains many thousands of letters between Preston and a vast array of authors that comment upon matters both literary and socio-historical. Among Preston's most prolific correspondents was Ann Rice, author of the Vampire Chronicles, whose papers provide insight into the link between straight/gay and erotic/mainstream fiction. ...more information

  • Prophet (Nancy Elizabeth)

    Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (1890-1960) was an American sculptress and, in 1918, the first woman of color to graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Her work became well-known throughout Europe and the United States. Born in Warwick, Rhode Island to a Narragansett Indian father and an African American mother, she experienced and struggled against racial discrimination typical of the times in which she lived. She studied and worked in Paris from 1922-1934. She taught at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia from 1934-1944. This collection contains the diary she kept during her life in Paris. In it she describes the hardships of poverty, her eagerness to work on her sculptures, the generosity of those who assisted her, and the sculptures she created. ...more information

  • Providence Black Repertory Company
    The Providence Black Repertory Company (Black Rep) was a 501c3 non profit arts organization based in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. It offered programming inspired by the cultural traditions of the African Diaspora in Theater, Education, and Public Programs. It operated from 1996 until 2009. ...more information

  • Providence Milk Commission
    The records of the Providence Milk Commission consist of financial and business records related to the Commission's activities from 1931 to 1985. The series concerning Hillside Farms contains reports on the health of its employees and the results of tests to determine the quality of the milk produced there. ...more information

  • Redding (J. Saunders)
    Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Saunders Redding graduated from Brown in 1928. After two years of teaching he returned to Brown to earn an A.M. in 1932. A writer and specialist in African-American Literature, Redding spent the majority of his teaching career at the Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, where he was Professor of English from 1943 to 1966. He subsequently taught at taught Duke, George Washington and Cornell Universities. In 1949, he returned to Brown for a brief stint as a visiting Professor, thus becoming the first African American to teach at an Ivy League school. He later served as Director of the National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Research and Publications from 1966 to 1969.

    The Redding papers cover his long career as a writer, academic and administrator, and document his involvement with numerous African American organizations and causes. ...more information

  • Reynolds Family Correspondence
    Collection consists almost entirely of personal letters written by Alfred C., Charles E., and James W. Reynolds to sisters and parents detailing Civil War experiences in the 128th Regiment, New York Volunteers and the 11th Light Artillery Regiment, New York. Of particular interest are accounts of the capture of Fort Morgan (1864, Aug.-Sept.), reflections on the Copperheads, Afro-American troops, General Lee, and slavery. ...more information

  • Rhode Island Baptist Heritage Center
    The Rhode Island Baptist Heritage Center, an affiliate of the American Baptist Churches of Rhode Island [ABCORI], was established in 2004 to create an official Baptist presence in Providence, Rhode Island. It provides substantive information regarding early English and American Baptists and documents traditional forms of worship and doctrine in the Baptist Church. The collection includes a wide array of church materials documenting organizational and administrative operations, religious practices and beliefs, and the history of the Baptist Church in Rhode Island. It includes registers, reports, correspondence, photographs and church publications dating from as early as 1867 to the late 1980s. The churches and organizations included are: Arlington Baptist Church, Bethany Baptist Church, Cranston Street Baptist Church, Eighth Baptist Church, First Free Baptist Church, Fourth Baptist Church, Jefferson Baptist Church, Olneyville Church, Park Street Baptist Church, Phenix Baptist Church, Rhode Island Free Baptist Association, Roger Williams Free Baptist Church, Trinity Baptist Church, United Baptist Church, United Community Church, United Presbyterian Church. ...more information

  • Rhode Island Feminist Theatre
    Theatre group founded in 1973 in Providence, Rhode Island. Members often collaborated on the writing of plays. Performances were given in Providence, Boston, and on national tour. The collection includes scripts, publicity, reviews, articles, promotional and touring material, posters, playbills, photographs, and other files. ...more information

  • Rider

    The Sidney S. Rider Collection on Rhode Island history, the largest private collection of materials related to Rhode Island, was presented to the library in 1903 by Marsden Perry. Rider was a leading Providence bookseller, publisher and antiquarian who had amassed a collection of manuscript and printed materials from the 18th through the early 20th centuries. The collection includes books, pamphlets, manuscripts, broadsides, ephemera, scrapbooks and newspapers compiled over 50 years of collecting. Notable among the ephemera are posters, cartoons, playbills, ballots, carrier's addresses, theater programs, tax bills, lottery tickets, death notices, and funeral invitations. Significant sections of the collection pertain to the Dorr Rebellion of 1842 and to the life and career of Rhode Island lawyer and Congressman Thomas Allen Jenckes.

    Researchers should conduct an author search on "Rider, Sidney S." in order to locate items from the printed collection.
    ...more information

  • Robinson (Blondie)
    A collection of 77 vintage photographs, primarily from the early 20th century, the bulk of which is dated between the years 1915 and 1925, formerly owned by Blondie Robinson, an accomplished African-American vaudeville performer of that era. The heart of this collection is comprised of photographs directly associated with Robinson himself that represent a visual composite of his professional life on stage, both as a solo performer and in collaboration with others. It offers substantive documentation about Robinson's repertoire of stage acts and his versatility as a vaudevillian -- the various characters he portrayed on stage, including blackface caricatures, his comedic sensibility, the sheer physicality of his performances, and the various costumes and props that he used. This collection also contains a significant number of photographs of other vaudeville performers, primarily but not exclusively African American, all of whom were professional associates of Robinson. Also of note in this collection are a few informal photographs of Robinson, alone and with others, some of whom are presumed to be members of Robinson's family and may even include images of his wife and daughter. Last but not least, this collection also includes useful pieces of textual information found on some of the photographs in the form of signatures, inscriptions, photographers marks, and annotations. ...more information

  • Robinson (Edward North) Sports
    The Edward North Robinson Collection of Brown University Athletics contains more than 30,000 photographs, over 900 reels of motion pictures, manuscripts, cartoons, scrapbooks, museum objects, office files, media guides and programs. This collection is part of the Brown University Archives. ...more information

  • Roger Williams Baptist Church
    The administrative records, committee minutes, publications, photographs and historical information documenting the history and activities of this Baptist church in Providence, RI. This is part of the Rhode Island Baptist Heritage Center collection. ...more information

  • Romance Novels
    The romance novels included in this database, along with the working papers of their authors, were acquired in conjunction with the establishment of the Christine Dunlap Farnham Archive, which is "dedicated to preserving and the continued collection of materials documenting the history of women in Brown University and Pembroke College, the post-graduate lives of Brown University and Pembroke College alumnae, and the lives of Rhode Island women." The authors are Barbar Kieler, Jo Ann Ferguson, Patricia Coughlin, and Sylvia Baumgarten. In addition to works by the Brown and Rhode Island authors listed, works by over 30 other romance authors appear in the database in cases where they have been anthologized with these four authors. The novels include titles translated into many languages ...more information

  • Sargent (Frances Herriott)
    This collection of about 285 items traces the evolution and production of the play "Porgy" and its operatic expression, "Porgy and Bess". The collection is composed of the professional and personal papers of the assistant stage manager, Frances Herriott (later Frances Herriott Sargent), and provides insight into the major elements of production as well as the personal relationships of cast members and stage professionals. ...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.

    ...more information

  • Scholarship America
    This collection consists of the records of Scholarship America (formerly known as the Citizens' Scholarship Foundation of America) from 1960 and ongoing. ...more information

  • Schulze, Robert O.
    Robert O. Schulze was dean of the College at Brown University from 1964 to 1969. He joined the Brown faculty in 1955 as an instructor of sociology, specializing in historical and political sociology. The files contain speeches and correspondence relating to Brown and sociology. The files date from 1959 to 1967. ...more information

  • Screenplays, 1938-1980
    Collection consists of 81 dialogues and post production scripts. Motion picture studios represented include: ABC, Paramount, Columbia, MGM, RKO, Republic, 20th Century Fox, United Artists, Universal, Warner Brothers, World Entertainment, and British film companies. Includes scripts for well-known films such as Chinatown, Love Story, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and many others. ...more information

  • Seven Hills Garden Club
    The Seven Hills Garden Club of Providence, Rhode Island, was founded in 1937 to "stimulate an interest in horticulture for purposes of civic betterment, and to enable each member to enjoy her own garden more intelligently." These records were kept in two notebooks by the Seven Hills Garden Club librarian and include by-laws, programs, clippings, photographs, some minutes, membership lists, memorial tributes to past members, and reports. In addition to documenting a women's club and the horticultural activities of a number of Providence women over several decades of the twentieth century, this collection provides some information about individual members and about the Rhode Island Federation of Garden Clubs. ...more information

  • Shapiro (Joe and Lil) Collection of Laundry Ephemera
    The Joe and Lil Shapiro collection of laundry ephemera is a collection consisting largely of small format ephemera that depict the history, artifacts and materials used in doing laundry over several centuries. Most of the material was produced by companies involved in the manufacture of laundry products. The collection includes, but is not limited to, advertising premiums, billheads, broadsides, brochures, calendars, greeting cards, labels, matchbooks, pamphlets, photographs, postage stamps, poster stamps, promotional booklets, puzzles, scrapbooks, shirt boards and trade cards. Much of the material in the collection is undated. The dated material is from 1805 to 2010. Most was produced between 1880 and 1955. ...more information

  • Shawomet Baptist Church
    The Shawomet Baptist Church was officially organized in 1842 as the Old Warwick Baptist Church. The original congregation of "Six Principle" Baptists combined resources with Regular (Calvinist) Baptists, whose numbers were growing as a result of the Second Great Awakening, to occupy a small meetinghouse on the Warwick Neck peninsula in Rhode Island. In 1851 their name was officially changed to Shawomet Baptist Church. The word Shawomet is the Narragansett Indian name for Warwick Neck. The church closed in 2011. The records include founding documents, publications, meeting minutes, correspondence, financial records, membership lists, club and activity records and photographic materials documenting the 170-year history of the congregation. The bulk of the material covers the period from 1945 through 1999. This is part of the Rhode Island Baptist Heritage Center collection. ...more information

  • Sheet Music
    The Sheet Music Collection, an outgrowth of the Harris Collection, contains approximately 500,000 pieces of sheet music, largely American imprint vocal music dating from the late 18th century to the present day; the bulk of the titles date between 1800 and 1950.

    Owing to its size, the Collection is divided into a number of sections. The largest is the section of vocal music, some 150,000 pieces, with an additional 35,000 pieces representing songs from the musical theatre, films, radio, and television shows. Afro-Americana accounts for perhaps 10,000 titles, of which perhaps 2,500 (mainly from the 19th century) are fully cataloged. There are another 2,000 pieces of cataloged music relating to World Wars I and II, and perhaps 1,500 cataloged musical settings of American poetry; there are another 1,500 uncataloged pieces belonging to these categories. Sheet music from the Confederacy is keyed to the citations in the Crandall bibliography; pre-1800 music is keyed to Sonneck-Upton, and music from 1801-1825 is filed by Wolfe number. Approximately one-third of the titles cited by Wolfe are in the Collection. There are also smaller (less than 2,500 pieces each) sections of: color lithographs; works by Boston lithographers; Endicott lithographs; Union imprint Civil War music; Latin American music; Yiddish-American music; Harrigan and Hart music; silent film music; dance folios; theatre music (non-vocal); music dealers' stamps; Canadian music.

    Note: Only approximately 5,000 titles have Josiah records. These include Afro-Americana, music relating to World Wars I and II, and musical settings of American poetry. ...more information

  • Silver (Rollo)
    This is the working library of Rollo G. Silver, Class of 1931, historian of early American printing, publishing, and typography. It includes circa 3,000 volumes, as well as 45 linear feet of notebooks containing transcriptions or reproductions of primary and secondary source materials. It records the historical development of the printing and publishing industries, particularly in the United States.
    The collection includes 64 volumes of notebooks containing the source materials for all of Silver's writings in the history of American printing; include manuscript transcriptions, photographs, photostats, and photocopies from published and archival sources; some pamphlets; and typed drafts of some of Silver's own articles and addresses. ...more information

  • Snyder (Clarence) Alcoholics Anonymous
    These papers consist of pamphlets, brochures, books, periodicals, menus, programs and tickets for events, rosters of A.A. groups, speeches, newspaper and magazine clippings, postcards, greeting cards, gas rationing stamps, bills of sale, receipts, and letters either typed, autographed or photocopied. The majority of the materials focus on the early history of Alcoholics Anonymous in the Cleveland, Ohio area and Clarence Snyder's involvement in Alcoholics Anonymous.

    The collection also includes books that have been cataloged separately and audio cassettes that are housed separately from the papers.

    NOTE: Researchers using this collection are asked to abide by the Anonymity Guidelines for the Brown University Library AA Collections. ...more information

  • Sorrentino (Mary Ann)
    The Mary Ann Sorrentino papers about her excommunication from the Catholic Church consist of correspondence, clippings, and other materials. These papers relate to the practice of abortion, the authority of the Catholic Church over its members, and general discussion of religion and morality with respect to abortion. The correspondence with Sorrentino (who was Executive Director of Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island from 1977 to 1987) includes responses from proponents of both the pro-choice and pro-life movements, Catholics, non-Catholics, public officials, and others. The collection also includes an oral history interview of Sorrentino recorded in 2012 and a Master of Arts in History thesis written by Rhonda J. Chadwick about Sorrentino's experiences. ...more information

  • Spooner (Edna Maine) Woman's Christian Temperance Union
    Edna Maine Spooner was a third-generation temperance worker, and a devoted lifelong member of the Rhode Island chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. This collection comprises WCTU materials, from the Rhode Island chapter and the national organization, carefully compiled by Spooner during her lifetime. It was donated to the Brown University Library by her daughter, Lucille S. Votta, in her memory. ...more information

  • Sprague (Katherine Chase)
    This collection consists of correspondence and documents created and collected by Kate Chase Sprague and documents her life as a wife, daughter-in-law, mother, divorcee and socialite. Included are love letters from her husband William Sprague of the prominent Sprague family of Rhode Island. Documents discuss the American Civil War, politics, and family affairs. A diary and several literary works by Kate Sprague and newspaper clippings pertaining to the family are also included. The materials date from 1850-1900. ...more information

  • Stamp
    Webster Knight Collection - OPEN BY APPOINTMENT
    W. L. L. Peltz Collection - CLOSED
    Irene Heneghan Stamp Collection - CLOSED
    George S. Champlin Memorial Stamp Collection - CLOSED
    United States First Day Covers - CLOSED
    Robert T. Galkin Collection - CLOSED

    In 1933 Colonel Webster Knight, Class of 1876, bequeathed an almost complete collection of mint United States postage stamps, in blocks of four, along with mint and used singles and blocks of revenue stamps plus an endowment for supporting the collection. The Knight Collection served as a magnet to attract the Peltz and Morriss Collections of Special Delivery stamps, in 1947 and 1960, as well as the George S. Champlin Memorial Stamp Collection of international issues, which began arriving in 1960. The Robert T. Galkin Collection of First Day Covers was presented to the Library in 1976. The Irene Heneghan Stamp Collection, given in 2002, includes 93 mounted stamp albums and several hundred early 20th century U.S. postcards with cancelled one-cent stamps. ...more information

  • Stephens (C.A.)
    Approximately 550 items by and relating to Stephens (1844-1931), author of works for young people, long time contributor to and assistant editor of The Youth's Companion.
    In-process records; Filed by item number ...more information

  • Stevens (Mitchell L.)
    The Mitchell L. Stevens papers are a research collection of materials on home schooling in the United States in the late 20th and early 21st centuries compiled by an educational sociologist. There are newsletters, catalogs, workbooks and promotional materials for private schools, home schooling programs and home schooling products, conference handouts, photocopies of newspaper and magazine articles and long runs of several magazines. ...more information

  • Tefft (Thomas Alexander) Architectural Drawings
    Architectural drawings by Thomas Alexander Tefft, Brown University Class of 1851. ...more information

  • Television Scripts
    Unpublished scripts representing approximately 730 different television programs (sitcoms, cop shows, satires, soap operas, musical specials) documenting American popular culture from the Truman era to the Reagan era. The collection reflects changes in American attitudes towards family, sex, politics, history, etc ...more information

  • Textbook
    A collection of approximately 4,500 textbooks on all subjects, dating from the mid-18th century to the 1930s, falling into the following categories:

    History
    Geography
    Social studies/civics/politics
    Arithmetic
    Algebra
    French
    Spanish
    German
    English composition and rhetoric
    Readers and primers for young students or those learning to read
    English grammar and spelling
    Greek and Latin

    The most straightforward way to browse the collection is by using the card catalog; however, many titles from the collection can be found in Josiah.

    To find textbooks in a particular subject area, try a subject search; in the "subject" field, enter "textbooks" and a subject (the list above aren't necessarily the official subject headings). Alternatively, try keyword searches for words like "primer" and "grammar".
    ...more information

  • 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.
    ...more information

  • Thayer (Eli)
    This collection of correspondence, essays, articles, and newspaper clippings has as its chief focal point the Kansas conflict in the 1850's. The New England Emigrant Aid Company and similar organizations undertook to send settlers to Kansas from the North East to counteract the influence of the South in determining the free vs. slave status of Kansas on its becoming a state. The influx of immigrants to Kansas profoundly affected the indigenous populations living there. The materials provide insight into how the settlers did not give any thought to those populations. The Kansas theme runs throughout the collection in contemporary materials as well as in reminiscences and historical narratives written some thirty to fifty years subsequently. Other places important to the collection are West Virginia, Massachusetts, and New York. ...more information

  • Tierney (Robert J.)
    Posters, scripts, tickets, photographs, and other ephemera related to theatrical and entertainment events in the local area over the past fifty years. The collection features over 350 radio and television scripts, representing musical variety, science fiction, drama, mystery, westerns, and comedies of the Fifties and the Sixties. In addition there are many scripts accompanied by correspondence related to their acquisition from producers, sponsors, etc.; numerous posters, programs, playbills, promotional brochures, handbills, photographs, and tickets to performances primarily in the Providence arena, gathered from local and regional theaters. Also included are itineraries for big bands, musicians, and other performers, as well as play lists for their performances ...more information

  • Trickett (Homer)
    Collection contains sermons, materials used to create sermons, lectures, study courses, materials relating to the Dodeka society, personal correspondence, newsletters, newspaper clippings all created or collected by Homer Trickett. This is part of the Rhode Island Baptist Heritage Center collection. ...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

  • Vanderboegh, Mike
    Michael Brian Vanderboegh (1953-2016) was a gun rights and Second Amendment activist. He was one of the founders of the Three Percenters movement pledged to protest and armed resistance against attempts to curtail constitutional rights to carry guns. During the 1990s he was the leader of a militia group called the Sons of Liberty. His papers detail his political and activism work relating to gun control, immigration, Operation Fast and Furious, and the Oklahoma City bombing. ...more information

  • Volck (Adalbert) Confederate Etchings

    In 1863, Adalbert J. Volck, a Maryland dentist and Southern sympathizer, produced a series of copper-plate etchings that caricatured Lincoln and the Union cause. The prints were published as a set and were very popular in the South during and after the war.

    The collection now at Brown was compiled by Boston book dealer Maury A. Bromsen and bequeathed to the John Hay Library. Though the prints are widely available in academic libraries today, the Bromsen collection of the Volck prints is unique as it includes the original copper plates from which the etchings were printed, as well as notes and reference material from Bromsen's research on Volck. ...more information

  • Ward (Lester Frank)

    Ward, a Brown faculty member recognized today as one of the founders of the field of sociology, bequeathed his library and personal papers to Brown, and they arrived at the John Hay Library in 1914. The 1,200 bound volumes and pamphlets plus approximately 11,000 letters and manuscripts represent Ward's interests in botany, paleobotany, geology, philosophy and sociology. The two main series of Ward's papers, the correspondence and the writings, are available on microfilm. ...more information

  • Watson (John Brown)
    John Brown Watson (Class of 1904) was among the earliest African American alumni of Brown University and had a distinguished career in the historically Black colleges of the South. After a teaching stint at Morehouse College, Watson moved into a career as an administrator. He became founding President of Leland College in Baker, Louisiana, in 1923, and later ascended to the presidency of Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal School, later known as Arkansas A&M University (now: University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff).

    The Watson papers cover, among other topics, African American education; the role of the African American woman as Christian homemaker and as community leader in education; land reform (creation of farms and rental of property to poor African Americans); African American business; African American leadership of the early 20th century; and African American missions in Africa.
    ...more information

  • Weeks Family
    Papers of three 20th century New England sisters, Elizabeth Goddard, Genevieve Cass and Norma Geraldine Weeks, the only children of William B. and Mabel Cass Weeks. The collection includes legal documents, baby books, travelogues, diaries, photographs, newspaper clippings, letters and published books. ...more information

  • Weird Tales
    Science fiction and fantasy periodical, notable at Brown University Library for the many works by H. P. Lovecraft it published. Fragile; may not be photocopied. ...more information

  • West Exeter Baptist Church
    Administrative and financial records, photographs, weekly bulletins for each Sunday service, and attendance records for a small Baptist congregation in Exeter, RI. This is part of the Rhode Island Baptist Heritage Center collection. ...more information

  • Wilmeth (Don B.) research files
    This collection of research files consists of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, e-mails, press releases, playbills, postcards, letters, student papers, lecture notes, brochures and conference presentations which form the basis for the research and writing of the second edition of The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre, compiled by Don B. Wilmeth and Tice L. Miller. Several stages of the resulting manuscript proof are also included. ...more information

  • Wyllys (Samuel)
    Annmary Brown Hawkins inherited from her father, Nicholas Brown, a collection of papers compiled by Samuel Wyllys (1631-1709), a Connecticut magistrate and public official who served from 1654 to 1684, along with papers of other members of the Wyllys family. The collection, covering the period from 1638 to 1757 (bulk 1663-1698), comprises half of the original collection; the other portion (covering 1694-1726) was acquired some time ago by the Connecticut State Library from the Estate of John Carter Brown. These early papers pertain to Indian affairs, colonial wars, civil and criminal cases. The witchcraft trials of 1692 to 1693, as revealed in the testimony of witnesses in the Oyer and Terminer Courts, are of particular interest. ...more information

  • Yoken (Mel)
    Personal collection of Mel B. Yoken assembled by the Brown University alumnus over a period of forty years. Receipt of the collection by the Brown University Library began in 1999 and is still in progress. It consists primarily of 20th century pieces of correspondence and literary works by American, British, French and Quebecois authors, artists and public figures. Numerous letters written by significant figures of the 18th and 19th century enhance the historical, literary and political interest of the collection. Notes, typescripts, photographs and personal papers complement the archive, as well as the many inscriptions, annotations and signatures in the book collection. ...more information

  • Young (John)
    These papers contain personal correspondence, business papers, writings by John Young and his daughter Harriet, maps and hand drawn diagrams of the Blackfeet Agency and it surroundings in Montana Territory. The personal correspondence from 1876 to 1884 provides firsthand accounts of life on the reservation during a crucial time in the tribe's history. ...more information

Image Source: Selections from the Michael J. Ciaraldi Collection of Comic Books and Comic Art. John Hay Library.

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