Anne Seddon Kinsolving Brown (1906–1985) was an American historian, socialite, and collector of military memorabilia who married into the prominent Rhode Island Brown family, founders of

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

Early life

Anne was born on March 25, 1906, in BrooklynSome sources say she was born in Baltimore, where her family moved when she was an infant. to Rev. Arthur B. and Sally Bruce Kinsolving. When she was six months old her family moved to

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

where her father took the position of rector at Old St. Paul's Episcopal Church. (Eventually Rev. Kinsolving became Bishop of Baltimore). She was the sister of the Rev. Dr. Arthur Lee Kinsolving, rector of Trinity Church, and later, St. James' Episcopal Church in New York. Rev. Kinsolving was the father of Lee Kinsolving (1938–1974), the actor. She attended

Bryn Mawr School Bryn Mawr School, founded in 1885 as the first college-preparatory school for girls in the United States, is an independent, nonsectarian all-girls school for grades PK-12, with a coed preschool. Bryn Mawr School is located in the Roland Pa ...

in Baltimore, graduating in 1924. For the next several years she worked as a journalist for the

Baltimore News The ''Baltimore News-American'' was a broadsheet newspaper published in downtown Baltimore, Maryland until May 27, 1986. It had a continuous lineage (in various forms) of more than 200 years. For much of the mid-20th century, it had the larges ...

, writing on a variety of topics including music, theater and art.

Career

Anne Brown began collecting lead toy soldiers during the couple's year-long honeymoon trip to Europe in 1930. Eventually her interest expanded dramatically to a large collection of military memorabilia, which on her death became the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection. Beyond collecting artefacts, she was a general historian, co-founding the Company of Military Historians in 1949. She was one of the few women military historians. She also wrote many books and articles. In 1962, she was given an L.H.D degree from

. In 1965 she lectured on military history at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

Personal life

In 1930, she met and married

John Nicholas Brown II John Nicholas Brown II (February 21, 1900 – October 10, 1979) was the United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR) from 1946 to 1949. He was a member of the Brown family that had been active in American life since before the American Re ...

, a Brown family heir who eventually became

Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR) The Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR) was a civilian office of the United States Department of the Navy. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR) initially reported to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and later to the Under Secretary of the ...

from 1946 to 1949. Together, Anne and John had three children: * Nicholas Brown (b. 1933), a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

who served as the director of the National Aquarium in Baltimore from 1983 to 1995, who married Diane Verne * John Carter Brown III (1934–2002), who became director of the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, and was married to Constance Mellon Byers (1942–1983) (daughter of

Richard King Mellon Richard King Mellon (June 19, 1899 – June 3, 1970), commonly known as R.K., was an American financier, general, and philanthropist from Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and part of the Mellon family. Biography The son of Richard B. Mellon, nephew of ...

), and later, Pamela Braga Drexel (former wife of John R. Drexel IV). * Angela Bayard Brown (b. 1938), who married Dr. Edwin Garvin Fischer (b. 1937) in 1963, grandson of Edwin Louis Garvin. Anne Brown died at her home "Harbour Court" in Newport, RI, on November 21, 1985.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Anne S. K. 1906 births 1985 deaths Anne S.K. Bryn Mawr School people 20th-century American historians