Series X. Published Material (1801-1972)

The series is comprised of 108 volumes from the reference library of the Historical Files Department, including published and privately printed books and pamphlets by and about the Brown family and the firm's partners, Brown Brothers business entities, banking and commerce, cities in which Brown Brothers Harriman and its precursor companies were located, and related background information.

Library records in the Historical Files Director's Files (Subseries I.D, box 80) identify other volumes that were in the Historical Files Library which are not found in this series. It also provides information on the sources of some volumes, relevant portions of which are included in the descriptions below.

Boxes 131-135 contain 46 copies of partner Thatcher M. Brown's unpublished history of the company, Brown Brothers & Co. [and] Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., 1900-1950, a continuation of his father John Crosby Brown's 1909 account of the firm's first century, A Hundred Years of Merchant Banking. Some correspondence about the former publication and its distribution is included in Subseries V.C.i. Personal and Family Materials. Box 131 contains an annotated copy originally in that series as well as a well-worn copy from the Brown Brothers Harriman Central Library.

The series includes 44 volumes (volumes 1-41, 43, 44, 47: 1839-1862) of Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, a general interest publication on commercial subjects such as shipping, railroads, banking, and finance. The collection was deposited with the Historical Files by partner E.R. Harriman. In 1969, 28 of the volumes were library-bound in starch felt buckram by De Ray Bookbinders for the Historical Files, after consultation with renowned book restorer Carolyn Price Horton.

The Historical Files Library was amassed for research purposes and includes volumes specifically purchased, donated, either deaccessioned or borrowed from the Brown Brothers Harriman Central Library, and/or with direct links (through ownership and/or subject matter) to Brown family members and partners in the firm.

Brown family association volumes

Volumes 77 and 85 are by Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown, wife of partner John Crosby Brown

Volumes 80, 89, 100, 102, 110, and 111 were donated to the Historical Files in 1964 by partner Moreau D. Brown. Volume 80 (Baltimore Directory, 1802) includes annotations by a previous owner, "shopkeeper" Philip Bier. Volume 89 is stamped and signed inside numerous times by James Brown and identified as his ("James Brown's Book...December 10 1803") at age 12. Volume 98, which comprises two editions of the same pamphlet bound together, bears the bookplate of Frederic C. Wagner, "Captain, and Provost Marshal 7th district, NY", and is inscribed by him to "Messrs. Brown Bros." Volume 102 (Memorial address... in remembrance of Mr. James Brown, 1878) is inscribed to "Thatcher M. Brown from his grandmamma E.M. Brown April 1878": Eliza Maria Coe Brown was James Brown's widow and the mother of John Crosby Brown. Volumes 110-112 (Old Merchants of New York) bear the bookplates of printer and typographer Theodore De Vinne ("Aere perennius": "more lasting than bronze"), and would have been dispersed from his collection at auction in 1920. Volumes 113 and 114, which are later issues of Old Merchants of New York, have the bookplate of partner John Crosby Brown; the latter is also inscribed by a Jehiel Clark.

Volume 103 (Memorial service at the unveiling of the tablet to the memory of Mr. James Brown..., 1877) was given to the Historical Files by Mrs. John Crosby Brown II. A photocopy is in the James Brown files of Subseries I.C.vi. Partners. Volumes 115 (Paddle box decorations...1952) and 130 (Women and children last, 1954) are both by Alexander Crosby Brown (1905-1993; son of James Crosby Brown and grandson of John Crosby Brown), a maritime historian associated with the Mariners' Museum, and founder (1941) and associate editor of The American Neptune, a quarterly journal of maritime history. Volume 130 is marked "Thatcher M. Brown III" in Sarah B. Brown's hand. Volume 129 (Will of James Brown, Esq., 1875) is annotated in an unidentified hand with records of dates and amounts of payments to family members and retainers. Volume 132 (The Yes Men [1958]) appears to have been privately bound for partner "Morreau [sic] Brown" and includes pasted-in photographs from the 1959 brochure "Personality of a Bank".

Other partner association volumes

Volume 91, by partner Robert A. Lovett, is his 1949 address to the Newcomen Society (1923-2007), a British organization that promoted American capitalism, material civilization, and entrepreneurship in the postwar, Communist-fearing political and business environment.

Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, the author of the biographical From pinafores to politics (Volume 92) and a suffragist and social reformer, was married to a cousin of partner W. Averell Harriman. Two volumes in the Library are inscribed to Harriman partners: the cover of Volume 101 ("Manna-hatin": The story of New York, 1929) is embossed in gold with "W.A. Harriman" and includes the calling card of P.A. Rowley, president of Manhattan Company, a Brown Brothers neighbor at 40 Wall Street. Volume 106 (Museums U.S.A. A history and guide, 1965) is inscribed "To Mr. E. Roland Harriman/ In grateful appreciation for your generous support over the years/John Ripley Forbes/ Westport, Conn./ January 6, 1966". Forbes established various American nature museums, including Earthplace in Westport, CT.

All the essays contributed to the 75th anniversary publication of the Yale Daily News (Seventy-Five, Volume 120) are by alumni, including "The Task of World Leadership" by W. Averell Harriman (class of 1913) and "Don't Let George Do It" by Robert A. Lovett (class of 1918). The volume was presented to the Historical Files by Miss Hazel Pierson in November, 1968, and is inscribed to Lovett "with grateful appreciation, John S. Koch, William H. Donaldson, James C Thomson Jr., 28 Jan 1953", who were Managing Editor, Business Manager, and Chairman, respectively, of the publication.

Partner J. Eugene Banks's Guides to stock market policy, 1948 (Volume 93) was produced internally and coil bound. The volume also includes his 1957 presentation to the American Statistical Association's annual convention, "Selected Stock Market Indicators and Their Current Implications" and his 1959 "Guide to Growth Stock Investing".

Brown Brothers Harriman Central Library volumes

Volumes 81, 87, 90, 97, 100, 116, 117, and 125 originated in the Brown Brothers Harriman Central Library. Volume 97 is also stamped with name of Joseph R. Kenny; Volume 81 was a donation from partner L.P. Shipley and is inscribed "To Mr. Park Shipley with best greetings from Vald Hvidt".

Other inscribed and donated volumes

Volumes 82, 96, and 107 were presented to the Historical Files Library by R.E. Lloyd, Jr., in 1967. The latter (The New York Stock Exchange, 1894) is inscribed by its author, Francis Eames, President of the N.Y. Stock Exchange from 1894 to 1898, to Mr. S. J. Harriot, with a note dated January 10, 1895.

Volume 83 (Canada's first bank) includes a note dated November 22, 1966, to Kouwenhoven and signed "John M", who may be partner John B. Madden. Volume 84 (Canton Days), published on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the railway firm named for a Baltimore-area estate, is inscribed "to my friends at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., Geo. Hill 1972".

The Library's copy of From pinafores to politics (Volume 92) was deaccessioned from the Saugerties Public Library and donated to the Historical Files Library by Mrs. Kay McLaughlin. Volume 122 (Society list and club register) is marked as "courtesy Mrs. Jane van Brunt" and includes a note on the page listing the New York Association for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor.

Volume 118 (Ramsay Lodge Association, 1948) originated with the Community Bank of Scotland and includes, in addition to the volume, an April 1949 issue of its employee magazine, "The Griffin", and a series of photographic prints showing Ramsay Lodge Association members and documenting the building's renovation.

Annotated volumes

Many volumes include notes or bookmarks in Kouwenhoven's hand identifying pages on which Brown Brothers is mentioned, and/or of which he wished to have photocopies made, especially Volumes 82, in which he quotes from pages 16 and 17: "God is in prices"; 100; 105; 109, which mentions traveling with a Brown Brothers letter of credit and is reproduced on page 113 of Partners in Banking; and 127, on pp. 86-87 of which he has marked the location of Brown Brothers on a panoramic map of Wall Street.

The unboxed volumes begin with Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, which is numbered consecutively with its original volume designations (H1-H47). It is followed by the New York City guides in chronological order, and the rest of the series arranged alphabetically by title: these volumes are numbered consecutively starting with Volume 69 (continuing from Volume 68 in Series VI. Scrapbooks and Collected Material).