Brown University Library Collections
Middle Eastern Studies Collections
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Anne S.K. Brown Military
The Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection is the foremost American collection of material devoted to the history and iconography of soldiers and soldiering, and is one of the world's largest collections devoted to the study of military and naval uniforms. It was formed over a period of forty years by the late Mrs. John Nicholas Brown (1906-1985) of Providence and is still growing. It contains approximately 12,000 printed books, 18,000 albums, sketchbooks, scrapbooks and portfolios, (containing thousands of prints and drawings), and over 13,000 individual prints, drawings and water-colors as well as a collection of 5,000 miniature lead soldiers.
Formerly in the Brown family residence (the Nightingale-Brown House, 1791), the entire collection (which was probably the largest private military collection in the world), was presented to Brown University and transferred to Special Collections located in the John Hay Library in 1982.
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Carvely (Andrew)
Consists primarily of printed works by and about T.E. Lawrence, collected by Andrew Carvely, and acquired from his estate in 1998. The collection comprises four categories: books by Lawrence including forwards, introductions, and translations; books about Lawrence including compilations of his letters, association copies, and ephemera including journal articles, newspaper articles, programs, brochures, posters and an original oil painting by Glen Schomburg commissioned by Andrew Carvely. The collection is particularly strong in works in Arabic and Hebrew. Gifts and purchases continue to augment the original collection.
This collection supplements holdings of T.E. Lawrence editions acquired earlier from the library of Francis H. Chafee, including the 1926 subscriber's edition of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Further information about the collection and the collector is available in a catalog produced for an exhibition at the John Hay Library, March 2 - April 30, 1998: T.E. Lawrence: A 20th century retrospective by Kathi Frances McGraw and Andrew Carvely. [May 2002]
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Cooke (Miriam)
This collection contains the professional papers of Miriam Cooke, scholar of Islamic feminism and gender and war in modern Arabic literature, and Braxton Craven Professor of Arab Cultures at Duke University. Materials include correspondence, conference materials, teaching materials, and draft writings dating from 1966 to 2017.
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Egyptology
Lysander Dickerman (Brown Class of 1851), a Congregationalist minister, was also an avid amateur archaeologist. At his death (circa 1910), he bequeathed 1,200 books on ancient Egypt, establishing the foundation for Brown's exceptional holdings in the field of Egyptology.
The collection includes some travel narratives by Egyptologists and accounts documenting archeological excavations that have taken place in Egypt since 1900, as well as works interpreting archeological findings.
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Korff (Baruch)
Personal papers of Providence rabbi and Jewish communal activist who became known as "Nixon's Rabbi" for his defense of the President during the Watergate affair. The collection includes materials pertaining to Korff's efforts on behalf of European Jewry during World War II, through the creation of the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe, as well as his post-war advocacy for the State of Israel.
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Napoleon
The William Henry Hoffman collection on Napoleon I, donated in 1924 by Hoffman's widow, contains over 100 manuscripts pertaining to the First French Republic and the Napoleonic era, many of which are signed by the Emperor, and 400 rare books, prints, art objects and examples of fine bindings. It still occupies its own room on the John Hay Library's top floor.
Annotated guide to collection in RS filing cabinet.
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Persian Miniature Paintings
Miniature paintings from the estate of Mrs. Adrienne Minassian. The paintings often include text from Persian and Indian tales.
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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
