Frank C. Brown papers, 1899-1943

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Scrapbook and lantern slides are fragile. Handle with care. Contact University Archives staff for assistance.
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Summary

Creator:
Brown, Frank Clyde, 1870-1943
Abstract:
Frank Clyde Brown (1870-1943) served as Professor of English at Trinity College and Duke University, and as Comptroller and University Marshall of Duke University. He oversaw the initial construction of Duke University's West Campus and the renovation of East Campus. Brown also founded the North Carolina Folklore Society. The Frank C. Brown Papers contain correspondence, logs, diaries, reports, lantern slides, notebooks, clippings, a scrapbook, and other materials. While some papers relate to teaching and English department activities, the bulk of the collection concerns the construction of Duke University, including correspondence with the Horace Trumbauer architectural firm, builder and manufacturer information, construction progress reports, travel diaries of visits to other campuses, and records of James B. Duke's views on architecture and involvement in campus planning. English.
Extent:
30 Linear Feet
Language:
English.
Collection ID:
UA.29.02.0043
University Archives Record Group:
29 -- Papers of Faculty, Staff, and Associates
29 -- Papers of Faculty, Staff, and Associates > 02 -- Individuals

Background

Scope and content:

The Frank C. Brown Papers include both Personal papers and Subject files relating to his career as a student, professor, and folklorist and also to his role in the construction of the Duke University campuses. The Personal papers series includes correspondence, biographical information, writings, addresses, lectures, clippings, diaries, coursework, blueprints, and slides. It includes correspondence with the Horace Trumbauer architectural firm, manufacturers' literature, construction progress reports, diaries of trips made in 1924 and 1926 to look at other campuses, and a lantern slide presentation on the campus. This series contains records documenting James B. Duke's views on architecture and his involvement in the planning of the campus. Also present is a diary/scrapbook kept by Brown and President William Preston Few during a 1924 tour during which they visited some twenty colleges and universities around the Eastern United States.

The Subject files series contains the alphabetical office files of Frank C. Brown. The bulk of the files pertain to the construction of the Duke University campuses and include information on planning, design, building materials, furnishings, builders, manufacturers, and vendors. A few items interfiled in the Subject files series relate to Brown's activities as a faculty member and as a member of professional and academic organizations.

Biographical / historical:

Frank Clyde Brown (1870-1943) served as professor, departmental chairman, university administrator, and collector of folklore. He was born October 16, 1870, in Harrisonburg, Va. to John Michael and Emma Catherine Liskie Brown. He earned an A.B. from the University of Nashville in 1893, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago in 1902 and 1908. In 1909, he began his career as professor of English at Trinity College (Durham, N.C.).

Brown organized the North Carolina Folklore Society in 1913, and served as its secretary-treasurer, program chairman, and primary collector until his death in 1943. The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, published by Duke University Press in seven volumes between 1952 and 1964, represents Brown's lifetime of collecting.

Between 1924 and 1930, Brown was deeply absorbed in the expansion of Trinity College into Duke University, serving as a member of the Building Committee of the Board of Trustees and as the first comptroller of the University. As comptroller, he acted as the liaison for architects, contractors, suppliers, administrators, and faculty in the designing, construction, and equipping of the redesigned East Campus, which became the Woman's College, and of the completely new West Campus. Brown is credited with contributing many original ideas to the building plans, foremost of which was the discovery of the nearby Hillsborough, N.C. stone and the recommendation that this material be utilized in the construction of the Gothic West Campus. He also served as university marshal, planning all major formal celebrations and entertaining numerous distinguished visitors to the new university.

Brown's published works include Elkanah Settle: His Life and Work (1910) and Ballad Literature in North Carolina (1915). In 1893 he married Ola Marguerite Hollis, who died in 1928, and in 1932 he married Mary Henkel Wadsworth. Brown died on June 3, 1943.

[Portions of this text are taken from a biographical sketch of Frank Clyde Brown written by William E. King.]

Acquisition information:
The Frank C. Brown Papers were received by the University Archives as a transfer in 1948-1974.
Processing information:

Processed by University Archives staff, 1991

Encoded by Jill Katte, January 2004

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Scrapbook and lantern slides are fragile. Handle with care. Contact University Archives staff for assistance.

Terms of access:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Frank C. Brown Papers, Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1st2f