EXTENT: 20 volumes (in four containers), plus 16 sketches (in portfolio)

ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGMENT: Two series: I. Scrapbooks; II. Sketches.

biography: Editor of The New England Farmer, 1851-1873.  Born in Newburyport, Mass., 1802.  Lived in Newburyport, Chester, N.H. (where he learned hands-on farming by helping his father), Hingham, Mass., Newport, N.H., Concord, N.H., Washington, D.C., and, from 1848 to 1873, Concord, Mass., where he lived and worked on a farm.  Largely self-taught, Brown journeyed for a year in the South and West, where he observed agricultural practices.  Printer, publisher, editor, writer, and lecturer. Published Hingham Gazette, New Hampshire Spectator, and Concord Freeman (Concord, Mass.).  Received appointment in office of Clerk of the U. S. House of Representatives, 1837.  Served as Librarian of the House from shortly thereafter to 1848.  Politically active as (in succession) a Democrat, a Know-Nothing, and a Free-Soiler.  Served as Assistant Secretary of State in New Hampshire, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, and a member of the Massachusetts legislature.  Active member of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture and of the Middlesex Agricultural Society; founding member of the Concord Farmer’s Club (Concord, Mass.).  Member of School Committee and Library Committee in Concord (Mass.) and, from 1848-1873, of the Social Circle of Concord. 

Scope and Content: Papers consist entirely of scrapbooks and of sketches in ink.  Series Scrapbooks includes the following: one volume (spine title Scrap book) containing clippings 1796-1843 (bulk 1838-1843) on miscellaneous topics, particularly American history, politics, and government, with a painting on cloth laid in; one volume (labeled Receipt book) containing printed receipt forms for use by the Clerk of the U. S. House of Representatives (thirteen receipts actually used, their stubs dated Apr. 1-June 2, 1834), the unused portion recycled by Brown as a scrapbook on political topics, but most of the clippings subsequently removed, Brown’s manuscript annotations remaining (the date span of the clippings originally contained within apparently 1838-1844); one volume (spine title Miscellaneous) containing primarily political clippings, 1837-1846; one volume (spine title Topography) containing clippings describing places (many in New England, some elsewhere in the U. S. and abroad) and some engraved ill., the dated items 183-1846; one two-volume set (spine title Miscellany) containing clippings on topics relating to agriculture and livestock, especially in New England, the bulk 1847-1872, each volume including a manuscript index by Brown; one volume  (entitled Sheep) containing clippings 1856-1866, ALS (J.B. Proctor to Messrs. R.P. Easton & Co., 1865 Dec. 11), and manuscript index; one volume (entitled Seasons) containing clippings 1857-1872, arranged by month of the year; one twelve-volume set of Scrapbooks (entitled Editorials), containing clippings from The New England Farmer, 1861-1868 and 1872 (several of the volumes including mounted clippings laid in).  The series Sketches includes sixteen varnished sketches of farm implements, in ink on cloth, ten of the sketches numbered 1-10, the remainder unnumbered, all attributed to Brown.  The attribution is supported by the handwriting in a penciled caption on one of the sketches and by a piece by J. Reynolds on p. 197 of the Apr. 1853 issue of The New England Farmer describing a presentation on the history of farm implements given by Brown before the Concord Farmer’s club on Feb. 24, 1853, and referring to ten plates prepared by Brown for the occasion.

ASSOCIATED MATERIALS: Keyes-Brown Family Papers, Concord Free Public Library, Special Collections.

SOURCE OF ACQUISITION: Not established.

PROCESSED BY: LPW, 06/24/95.  Prepared for the Internet by Peter K. Steinberg, 01/14/06.

CONTAINER LIST

Series I. Scrapbooks:
Box 1
Scrapbook (spine title Scrap book) containing clippings 1796-1843 (bulk 1838-1843) on miscellaneous topics, particularly American history, politics, and government; painting on cloth laid in.

Scrapbook (label title Receipt book) containing printed receipt forms for use by the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives (thirteen actually used, their stubs dated Apr. 1-June 2, 1834), the unused portion recycled by Brown as a scrapbook on political topics, but most of the clippings subsequently removed, Brown’s manuscript annotations remaining (the date span of the clippings originally contained within apparently 1838-1844).
 
Box 2
Scrapbook (spine title Miscellaneous) containing primarily political clippings, 1837-1846.

Scrapbook (spine title Topography) containing clippings describing places (many in New England, also some elsewhere in U.S. and abroad) and some engraved ill., the dated items 1834-1866.

Box 3
Scrapbook (spine title Miscellany), 2 volumes, containing clippings on topics relating to agriculture and livestock, especially in New England, the bulk 1847-1872, each volume including manuscript index by Brown.

Box 4
Scrapbook (entitled Sheep) containing clippings 1856-1866, ALS (J.B.Proctor to Messrs. R.P. Eaton & Co., 1865 Dec. 11), and manuscript index.

Scrapbook (entitled Seasons) containing clipping 1857-1872, arranged by month of the year.

Scrapbooks (entitled Editorials), 12 volumes, for 1861-1868 and 1872, containing clippings from The New England Farmer (several of the volumes including unmounted clippings laid in).

SERIES II. Sketches:
Portfolio
Sixteen varnished sketches of farm implements, in ink on cloth, ten of the sketches numbered 1-10 [1853], the remained unnumbered, all attributed to Simon Brown.

c2006 Concord Free Public Library, Concord, Mass.
Not to be reproduced in any form without permission of the Curator of Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library.

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Mounted 28th January 2006. rcwh.