MR. AND MRS. AUGUSTUS PAGE BROWNE VISITING CARD COLLECTION, CA. 1929
Vault A45, Browne, Unit 1
EXTENT: 80 items in one folder.
ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT: Organized in a single file; arranged alphabetically by name of caller.
BIOGRAPHY: Son of Charles A. and Edith Page Browne, Augustus Page Browne was born April 16, 1892 in Newton, Massachusetts. He was educated at Governor Dummer Academy and Dartmouth College (Class of 1916) and served as a Field Artillery captain in World War I. After marriage, Mr. Browne lived in Concord, Massachusetts. He worked in real estate management and cofounded the Sheraton Corporation of America, from which he retired in 1957. (Robert L. Moore, also of Concord, was another Sheraton cofounder.) Mr. Browne was a supporter of philanthropic and historical endeavors in the Boston area. He died February 8, 1970.
In 1929, Page Browne married Grace Fagan of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Browne (1897-1982) was the daughter of Charles A. and Mary Kane Fagan. The Brownes honeymooned in Europe, traveled back to America via steamer, and made their first home on Ripley Hill Road in Concord, later moving to 177 Barnes Hill Road. Their sons Augustus Page Browne, Jr., and Pierce B. Browne were born in 1932 and 1935, respectively.
This collection of visiting (or calling) cards reflects a common social practice of the upper middle and upper classes in earlier times. Visitors would pay a formal call and leave a card, regardless of whether or not the person called upon was home. As newlyweds and recent arrivals in Concord, the Brownes received a number of local visitors bearing engraved visiting cards and welcome wishes.
SCOPE AND CONTENT: 80 engraved visiting cards presented at the A. Page Browne home in Concord, Massachusetts, soon after the Brownes moved to town in 1929. The collection includes a total of seventy-six unique cards and duplicates of four of them. Most of the cards bear Concord names, but some represent visitors from elsewhere. Mrs. Browne saved them and stored them in her husband’s desk, which was inherited by her son Pierce at her death in 1982. See container list below for a listing of the names represented in the collection.
SOURCE OF ACQUISITION: Gift of Pierce B. Browne, December 17, 2015.
NOTES/COMMENTS: Accessioned December 23, 2015; AMC 250.
PROCESSING NOTE: Processed by LPW; finding aid completed December 24, 2015.
CONTAINER LIST
All visiting cards filed in a single folder, as follows:
Mr. John Moseley Abbot
Miss Elizabeth Alexander
Dr. William Bradford Bartlett
Mrs. William Bradford Bartlett
Mr. George Eugene Bates
Mrs. George Eugene Bates
Mrs. John Bordman
Mr. Henry Baker Bradford
Mrs. Henry Baker Bradford
Mrs. Moses B. L. Bradford
Mrs. Moses B. L. Bradford (card with black mourning border; 2 copies)
Mr. Arthur Bradford Brooks
Mrs. Arthur Bradford Brooks
Mrs. Henry Brooks
Nrs. Harold Cabot
Mr. Alexander Abbot Cameron
Mrs. Alexander Abbot Cameron
Mr. Richard Morgan Cameron
Mrs. Richard Morgan Cameron
Mr. Frederic H. Chase
Mrs. Frederic H. Chase
Mrs. Robert Codman Cobb
Mr. Henry Francis Colt
Mrs. Henry Francis Colt
Mr. Eben Fox Corey
Mrs. Eben Fox Corey
Mr. Gaylord Church Cummin
Mrs. Gaylord Church Cummin
Mr. Alfred Curtis
Mrs. Alfred Curtis
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick William Eaton
Mr. John Marshall Eaton
Mrs. John Marshall Eaton
Mrs. Charles Gardner Edgarton
Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Mansfield Ferry
Mr. Leon Frederic Foss (2 copies)
Mrs. Leon Frederic Foss
Mrs. Irvin McDowell Garfield
Mr. Mason Garfield
Mr. Robert Eliot Goodwin
Mrs. Robert Eliot Goodwin
Mr. Frank E. Gramkow
Mrs. Frank Gramkow
Mrs. Albert Mason Harlow
Mr. Samuel Hoar
Miss Hurd
Mrs. William Frederick Kussin
Mr. Lennox Hubbard Lindsay, Jr.
Mr. Harry Britton Little
Mrs. Harry Britton Little
Mrs. Gardner Sparhawk Marion
Mrs. John Lawrence Mauran
Mr. and Mrs. Roger Bigelow Merriman, Jr.
Mr. Edward W. Morse, Jr. (2 copies)
Mrs. Edward Wendell Morse, Jr.
Miss Dorothea Newman
Mrs. Robert B. Parker, Jr.
Mrs. George Ayer Parsons
Mr. Joseph Smith Richardson
Mrs. Joseph Smith Richardson
Mr. and Mrs. Wilford Cook Saeger
Mrs. Walter K. Shaw, Jr.
Mr. Malcolm North Stanley
Mrs. Malcolm North Stanley
Mr. Brooks Stevens, Jr.
Mrs. Brooks Stevens, Jr.
Mr. Thomas Whitney Surette
Mrs. Thomas Whitney Surette
Mr. Roger Dyer Swaim
Mrs. Roger Dyer Swaim
Mrs. Howard Potter Swift
Mr. Moseley Taylor (2 copies)
Mrs. Moseley Taylor
Mr. Charles Lakeman Ward
Mrs. Charles Lakeman Ward
Mr. Berkeley Wheeler
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Mounted 30 December 2015. rev. 16 January 2016. rcwh.