Brown, John Carter

Brown, John Carter,

1797–1874, American book collector and philanthropist, b. Providence, R.I.; son of Nicholas BrownBrown, Nicholas,
1769–1841, American manufacturer and philanthropist, b. Providence, R.I., grad. Rhode Island College (renamed Brown Univ. in 1804 for him), 1786. He extended the internationally known mercantile business of his father, Nicholas Brown.
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. In about 1840 he began collecting books printed before 1800 relating to America, and the result was a remarkable library of 5,600 volumes. These were cataloged by John BartlettBartlett, John,
1820–1905, American compiler and publisher, b. Plymouth, Mass. While he worked in his university book store in Cambridge, he compiled the invaluable Familiar Quotations
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 (4 vol., 1865–71). Several thousand volumes were added to the library before Brown's death. After his son, John N. Brown, died, the library was donated to Brown Univ. (named for Nicholas Brown) with funds and an endowment for a special building on the campus to house it. It is known as the John Carter Brown Library.

Brown, John Carter

(1797–1874) book collector; born in Providence, R.I. Son of philanthropist-industrialist Nicholas Brown, he assembled a unique library of pre-1800 Americana, eventually housed at Brown University.

Brown, John Carter

(1934– ) museum director; born in Providence, R.I. He studied at Harvard (B.A. 1956; M.B.A. 1958), at Munich University (with Bernard Berenson) (1958), at the Netherlands Institute of Art History (1960), and at New York University (M.A. 1962). His specialty was 17th-century Dutch art. As the director of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1969–92), he presided over a period of great expansion in the museum's exhibitions and public presence.