John Carter Brown - Biography

Biography

He was born in 1797 to Nicholas Brown, Jr., the namesake patron of Brown University. Collecting American books in the mid-19th century, John Carter Brown amassed thousands of early American volumes. He was the first American to join the Hakluyt Society as a charter member in 1846. He fathered a son at age 64, John Nicholas Brown I (1861–1900) continued his father's collection and in his testament assigned funds for the library building. John Carter Brown died in 1874.