COLLECTIONS A-Z

• Baptist Collection
  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 First Baptist Church of Swansea (Massachusetts), the Baptist Church in Warren (Rhode Island), and the Arkwright and Fiskeville Baptist Church in Scituate (Rhode Island) have placed their papers, records, and ledgers on deposit with the Library. There is also a sizeable collection of Baptist periodicals. ...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
  
  
• Brown University Biographical Files
  Contains over 50,000 biographical files on alumni, faculty and administration members, and some staff members. These files contain vital statistics forms from the Alumni Records office, and in most cases include newspaper clippings, curricula vitae, bibliographies, and correspondence. ...more information
  
  
• Chace (Elizabeth Buffum), and family, papers [ca. 1801-1900]
  
  Quaker reformer Elizabeth Buffam Chace was a feminist, abolitionist, activist for prison reform, the rights of orphans, peace, and temperance and the author of "Anti-Slavery Reminiscences."
  
  The collection includes her commonplace book and diary; family albums, scrapbooks, photographs; miscellaneous clippings and other material relating to the Buffums, the Chaces, the Cheneys, and the Tolmans. The collection also includes some correspondence. ...more information
  
  
• Charles Value Chapin Papers
  Charles V. Chapin, Class of 1876, was instructor in physiology at Brown from 1882 to 1886 and professor from 1886 to 1895. He held the post of superintendent of health in Providence for forty-eight years. The collection consists of correspondence chiefly with workers in public health in America, Europe, and Australia about Dr. Chapin's work in communicable diseases. ...more information
  
  
• Charles Woodberry McLellan Collection of Lincolniana
  
  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
  
  
• Christine Dunlap Farnham Archive
  The Farnham Archive constitutes a system for describing and accessing collections with materials pertaining to women within the special collections housed at the John Hay Library. Accessed through the printed Research Guide, the Farnham Archive pulls together substantial holdings of all varieties in the Hay Library that document women's history. ...more information
  
  
• Dexter (Robert Cloutman) and Elisabeth Anthony Dexter papers
  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
  
  
• Drowne family papers, 1636-1936 (bulk 1750-1885)
  In 1940, the personal library of botanist and physician Dr. Solomon Drowne, Class of 1773, plus over 1,000 documents and letters relating to members of the Drowne family (1770 through 1940) were moved from Mt. Hygeia, Dr. Drowne's home in Foster, Rhode Island, to Brown. This fine example of an 18th century American private library is preserved intact within Special Collections. ...more information
  
  
• Eli Hawley Canfield Papers, 1844-1898
  
  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. ...more information
  
  
• Greene Memorial
  The name by which the collection of manuscripts by and relating to Albert Gorton Greene has been known. It is now more properly cited as Ms. Greene. The Greene Memorial is a collection of materials relating to Judge Albert Gorton Greene, 1802-1868, the founder of the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays. Included are fourteen watercolors of Italian and Roman ruins painted by Judge Greene; two paintings by Giovanni Thompson related to poems by Greene; a manuscript copybook of letters from John Quincy Adams to his son about the Bible; manuscripts and letters; certificates; daguerrotypes; scrapbooks of poems; autograph albums; deeds; and a sea-letter of the brig Clinton signed "G. Washington, 1795." ...more information
  
  
• Hay (John) Collection
  The John Hay collection documents the life of John Milton Hay (1838-1905), Brown Class of 1858, and consists of two major components: A collection of books, and Hay's personal papers.
  
  The John Hay book collection comprises approximately 2,000 books by or about Hay and his period. Much of this material was given by members of the Hay family.
  
  The John Hay Papers consists of over 9,100 items encompassing Hay's correspondence with his family and with literary, diplomatic, and political contemporaries; diaries kept by Hay as Lincoln's White House aide and as Secretary of the Legations in Paris, Vienna, and Madrid, 1866-1870; manuscript poems; galley proofs; personal letterpress copy books. Subjects include: Civil War; Lincoln and his administration; Reconstruction; court life in Paris; the bi-metal monetary standard; the Canadian boundary settlement; the fur seal question; Japanese naval activity; Chinese-American relations; the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars; British and American politics. A microform copy exists of this material. ...more information
  
  
• Hyatt Howe Waggoner Collection
  The papers and personal library of Brown faculty member Hyatt Howe Waggoner, author of American Poets and American Visionary Poetry, among other works. Many of the works include Prof. Waggoner's annotations. The papers include manuscripts and correspondence relating to his study, teaching, and writing; includes personal correspondence with colleagues and friends The papers also document Waggoner's professional activities as a scholar and teacher. They include his correspondence with publishers, and his notes, manuscripts, and correspondence relating to books he wrote. Also included in the papers are notes and clippings removed from printed volumes in his personal library List available ...more information
  
  
• John Birch Society Records, [ca. 1965-1989]
  Includes correspondence and manuscripts; memoranda; audio tapes, videotapes, phonograph records, and filmstrips. Also includes printed copies of The Review of the News, The John Birch Bulletin, and American Opinion. ...more information
  
  
• John Preston
  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
  
  
• Jonathan Russell papers, 1795-1832
  The papers of merchant, diplomat, and Massachusetts Congressman Jonathan Russell, Class of 1791, provide information on an early critical period of American politics and diplomacy. Included are records, notes, and correspondence for the period 1795-1830, during which Russell was a member of the United States Commission to draw up the Treaty of Ghent following the War of 1812, and later, Minister to Sweden and Norway. There are also several hundred letters from Russell to President James Monroe, and 22 from Monroe concerning commercial and diplomatic relations between the United States and Europe. Some 120 letters which Russell exchanged with John Quincy Adams span the years 1798 to 1823. ...more information
  
  
• Lester Frank Ward collection, 1860-1913
  
  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
  
  
• Martha Dickinson Bianchi Papers, [ca. 1834-1980]
  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
  
  
• Maud Howe Elliott Papers, 1882-1948
  
  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
  
  
• National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. Archives
  Marty Mann (1905-1980) founded NCADD and dedicated her life to teaching the public that alcoholism is a preventable and treatable disease, not a moral failing. The archive comprises 16 record storage boxes containing official and personal correspondence, papers, articles, speeches, brochures, press clippings, field reports, Board minutes, photographs, films, and audio cassettes.
  
  NOTE: Researchers using this collection are asked to abide by the Anonymity Guidelines for the Brown University Library AA Collections. ...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
  
  
• Rhode Island Feminist Theatre Records, 1973-1984
  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
  
  
• Rhode Island Women's Health Collective
  The records of the RIWHC include financial, legal, funding, and donor records, mailing lists, newletters and publications relating to women's health issues. ...more information
  
  
• Schor (Naomi) papers, 1950-2002
  The Naomi Schor papers span the years from 1950-2002 and consist of personal and professional correspondence, literary manuscripts, research and teaching materials, and materials from her professional activities. The collection documents Schor's career as one of the foremost scholars of French literature and critical theory and a pioneer feminist theorist of her generation. ...more information
  
  
• Scott O'Hara Papers
  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
  
  
• 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
  
  
• Snyder (Clarence H.) A.A. Collection
  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
  
  
• St. Martin's Press archive, 1952-[ongoing]
  In 1997, St. Martin's Press agreed to transfer their archives - thousands of publications as well as their business files - to the Library. In addition to receiving the complete inventory of St. Martin's Press publications dating back to the founding of the press in 1952, the Library receives a copy of every new St. Martin's Press title as it is published. This gift brings to the Library the historical archive of one of the nation's most important trade publishing houses; additions to the archive take place regularly.
  
  The collection includes archival copies of books produced by St. Martin's Press, which are retained by the Press for purposes of producing reprints in the future. These books are individual catalogued in JOSIAH, but housed at the Annex as part of the Hay Library's collections. Because they have been kept primarily for archival purposes, they will be retrieved for use at the John Hay Library.
  ...more information
  
  
• The Barton Levi St. Armand Collection of Dickinson Family Papers, [ca. 1851-1908]
  Includes the following material, some of which relates to Emily Dickinson: [1] 125 letters of Edward (Ned) Austin Dickinson to William Austin Dickinson and Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson; [2] scrapbook of Martha Gilbert Dickinson Bianchi; [3] scrapbook of Mary M. Warner (afterwards Mrs. Edward Payson Crowell) ...more information
  
  
• The Daniel J. Leab Collection of Books and Manuscripts by and about George Orwell
  In 1997 Daniel J. and Katharine Kyes Leab donated one of the largest and most important gatherings of George Orwell material in private hands to the Brown University Library. Consisting primarily of printed works by and about Orwell, the Leab Collection contains first and subsequent editions of all of his books, from Down and Out in Paris and London to Nineteen Eighty-Four. In addition, the Leab Collection contains a small, select group of manuscripts, as well as books owned by the author, including school books signed "Eric Blair," Orwell's birth name, and a considerable body of ephemeral material.
  
  In 1992 Daniel G. Siegel, Class of 1957, donated to the Brown University Library the manuscript of George Orwell's last novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Containing almost half of the published text of Nineteen Eighty-Four this is the only substantial Orwell manuscript which was not destroyed by the author.
  
  Bibliographic access to this material is available via Josiah, the Library's online catalog, thanks to a gift from Lyman G. Bloomingdale, Class of 1935. ...more information
  
  
• The Ernest Kurtz Collection on 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
  
  
• Theodore Francis Green Papers, [ca. 1907-1938]
  T.F. Green (class of 1887) was at different times a lawyer with Green, Hinckley and Allen and with Green, Curran, and Hart. He was an instructor in law at Brown University and served as Governor of Rhode Island. The collection consists of personal and professional correspondence; legal case files; financial files; family history; political files ...more information
  
  
• Third & Elm Press
  The archive of Alexander and Ilse Nesbitt's private press in Newport, Rhode Island. The Library also owns an extensive collection of the publications of the Third & Elm Press. ...more information
  
  
• Wellman (Manly Wade) papers, 1908-1997
  The Manly Wade Wellman papers consist primarily of his fiction and nonfiction manuscripts (originals, carbon copies, and page proofs), personal and professional correspondence, and financial records. Also included are a small collection of manuscripts and correspondence belonging to his wife Frances Wellman. ...more information
  
  
• William Chauncey Langdon Collection of Pageants
  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. ...more information
  
  
• Wyllys (Samuel) papers, 1638-1757
  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
  
  
• Wyman (Loraine) collection, 1859-1952 (bulk 1910-1937)
  The Loraine Wyman collection consists of manuscripts, sheet music, and miscellaneous material collected and/or edited by Loraine Wyman, the bulk dating from 1910-1937, and collected in Kentucky, Quebec, and France. The collection contains principally folk songs, arrangements or orchestrations of folk music, and French art songs. ...more information
  
  
• Yatman Family Papers, 1814-1959
  The Yatman Family papers include correspondence, diaries (including travel diaries), Republican campaign and other material, church subscription books, photographs, etc. The collection primarily consists of the papers of Thomas Laurie, reflecting his work as a missionary and minister; Martha Ellen Laurie Yatman, especially documenting her daily life and trips abroad; and Marion Fay Yatman, providing a cursory view of her work for the Republican Party in the 1940s and 1950s. The papers provide some information about other family members and document a variety of familial and spousal relationships as well as life in the Boston and Providence areas ...more information
  
  
• Yoken (Mel B.) collection
  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 Québécois 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
  
  

Image Source: William H. Brooks Family Papers, 1861-1865. Finding Aid

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