BROWN, JOHN--Papers, 1842-1928 Approx

John Brown papers, 1842-1928

Descriptive Inventory for the Collection at the Chicago Historical Society

By Robert D. Kozlow; rev. by Jennifer Asimakopoulos; rev. 2013

Please address questions to:

Chicago History Museum, Research Center

1601 North Clark Street

Chicago, IL 60614-6038

http://www.chicagohistory.org/research

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title: John Brown papers, 1842-1928

Main entry: Brown, John, 1800-1859

Inclusive dates: 1842-1928

Size:

approximately 95 items and 1 volume

Restriction: Advance appointment with special permission required to view John Brown's last note and his Bible. A photocopy of the note is available for research use; a microfilm of the Bible is available for research use.

Provenance: Gift of Frank G. Logan; Harriet Carpenter, 1924; Albert H. Sprague, 1944; and other persons; purchase from Forest H. Sweet and other persons.

Terms governing use: Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Please cite this collection as: John Brown papers (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

This descriptive inventory contains

Biographical note,

Summary description of the collection,

Description of some materials related to the collection.

List of online catalog headings about the collection,

List of contents of the collection.

Biographical note:

John Brown was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut, the son of Owen and Ruth (Mills) Brown. He was an itinerant sheep rancher, tanner, and speculator in lands in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Ohio, New York, and Massachusetts. A militant abolitionist, Brown led raids on slave holders and proposed the creation of a free state under a constitution. The raid he led on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, resulted in his capture and his execution on December 2, 1859.

Summary description of the collection:

The papers contain twenty-seven items by John Brown, 1842-1859. Twelve items are letters to members of his family. They deal chiefly with personal and household matters. Three pieces are business letters on the sale of sheep and wool. Seven letters are fundraising notes and receipts for Brown's western expeditions. There is also Brown's draft of the articles of peace between Kansas and Missouri; a loyalty pledge taken by Brown's raiders; a printed copy of the provisional constitution for the establishment of a free state; a prophetic note written by Brown on the day of his execution predicting the achievement of abolition through bloodshed; and a Bible used and inscribed by Brown while he was imprisoned after the Harpers Ferry raid, authenticated by seven notarized affidavits.

There also are twenty-three letters by members of the Brown family, 1851-1893. They consist of seven business letters by John Brown's son Oliver O. Brown, 1853-1857, dealing with land transactions, plus three letters on miscellaneous personal and family matters by his daughters and wife Mary Ann, Martha E. and Samantha Brown, 1851-1859. The collection includes letters by Salmon P. Chase and Thomas H. Hicks, Governors of Ohio and Maryland, offering their cooperation in the capture of Brown's marauders; a poem, "The Burial of John Brown," by William Ellery Channing; and ten letters, 1909-1928, relative to the transcription and collection of John Brown materials by Frederick S. Wait, John Henry Parr, Franklin Benjamin Sanborn, Oswald Garrison Villard and Forest H. Sweet.

Description of some related material

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include papers of Judge Richard Parker, judge at the trial of John Brown, for his comments on the fairness of the trial, contained in a note on an article by Marcus J. Wright, "The Trial of John Brown." Also, a letter by William Lloyd Garrison, November 1, 1865, to G. H. D. Johnson, in the Garrison papers, giving observations on Brown during his trial. Materials received with the Logan collection include photographs and objects of personal association with accompanying letters of attribution containing much information about John Brown, some of the letters from his daughter Ruth Brown Thompson.

List of online catalog headings about the collection,

The following headings were placed in the online catalog for this collection.

Subjects:

Brown, John, 1800-1859--Archives.

Brown, John, 1800-1859--Death and burial.

Brown family.

Abolitionists--United States.

Antislavery movements--United States.

Families--United States--19th century.

Harpers Ferry (W. Va.)--History--John Brown's Raid, 1859.

Form/genre:

Annotations. Underlining in Bible.

Bibles.

Correspondence.

Added entries:

Adams, Annie Brown, 1843-1926.

Brown, John, 1821-1895.

Brown, Martha E. Brewster.

Brown, Mary Anne Day, 1816-1884.

Brown, Oliver, d. 1859.

Brown, Owen.

Bible English.

List of contents of the collection:

box 1

folder:

1-5 Brown, John. Letters, 1842-1859

6 Brown, John. Provisional Constitution and Ordinances for the People of the United States

7 Brown, John. Bible affidavits, 1892-1893

8 Brown family. Correspondence Adams, Annie (Brown), 1860-1886

9 Brown family. Correspondence Brown, Frederick, 1876

10 Brown family. Correspondence Brown, John, Jr., 1861-1891

11 Brown family. Correspondence Brown, Martha E. (Brewster), 1859

12 Brown family. Correspondence Brown, Mary Anne (Day), 1860

13 Brown family. Correspondence Brown, Oliver O., 1853-1857

14-15 Brown family. Correspondence Brown, Owen, estate papers, 1856-1858

16 Brown family. Correspondence Brown Samantha, 1851

17 Brown family. Correspondence Thompson, Ruth (Brown), 1892-1893

18 Related papers. Channing, William Ellery; poem, The Burial of John Brown

19 Related papers. Sanborn, Franklin Benjamin, 1857; lecture notes on John Brown

20 Related papers. Wise, Henry A., 1859--corres. with Salmon P. Chase & Thomas H. Hicks

21 Related papers. Miscellaneous letters, 1909-1928--Frederick S. Wait, John Henry Parr, Franklin Benjamin Sanborn, Oswald Garrison Villard, Forest H. Sweet

Items in restricted storage:

John Brown's last note and his Bible.

To request to see the microfilm of the Bible, please see the catalog record for this title:

Title: Brown et al. microfilm of manuscript volumes in "A House Divided" exhibition (Chicago History Museum)