Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Stuart E. Brown, Jr. Papers, Accession #6528-a, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The collection was a gift to the Library from Mr. Stuart E. Brown, Jr., of Berryville, Virginia, on August 23, 1982.

Biographical/Historical Information

Stuart E. Brown, Jr. was born on April 25, 1916, in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Stuart and Dakota Janney (nee Best) from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. He received B.S. and LL.B. degrees from the University of Virginia and was admitted to the Virginia State Bar Association and the Maryland Bar.

From 1940 to 1941 he practiced law in Baltimore, Maryland; in June 1941 he enlisted in the United States Navy as an apprentice seaman. During his tour of duty Brown served in the North Atlantic, off the Hawaiaan Islands, Saipan, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima. He commanded an anti-submarine ship in the North Atlantic, served as an anti-gunnery instructor for foreign crews, and commanded a rescue ship in the Pacific. After leaving the navy in 1946, he settled in Baltimore where he resumed his law practice as an associate partner of Niles, Barton, Morrow, and Yost; two years later he married Ann Barton, a native of that city. He also served as a law clerk for Morris A. Soper, Judge of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Brown began a law practice in Berryville, Virginia, in 1951, specializing in real estate law, trusts, and estates. He later served as an attorney for the town of Boyce, Virginia. In 1953 Brown was Clarke County chairman for Charles R. Fenwick's campaign for governor; during 1959-1960 he was the chairman of the Speaker's Bureau of the Virginia Democratic Campaign Committee and assisted William C. Battle, Democratic state campaign manager, during John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign in Virginia. He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1961 for the Democratic nomination for the Virginia House of Delegates against incument E. Blackburn Moore. Brown was also a campaign worker on behalf of William B. Spong, Jr.'s 1966 and 1972 Senatorial campaigns as well as Battle's 1969 gubernatorial campaign.

Brown is a member of a number of professional and other organizations including: the Order of the Coif, Omicron Delta Kappa; the Raven Society; Phi Delta Phi; Phi Kappa Sigma; the Winchester Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America; Veterans of Foreign Wars; the American Legion; the Virginia Historical Society; the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society; the Clarke County Historical Society; the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club; and is past president of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Chapter of the University Alumni Association. He is the author of Annals of Black-water and the Land of Canaan and the editor of Skyland: The Heart of the Shenandoah National Park .

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of ca. 3,000 items (6 Hollinger boxes and one oversize folder; ca. 2.2 linear shelf feet), 1946 (1959-1972) 1978, papers of Stuart E. Brown, Jr. of Berryville, Clarke County, Virginia. The collection includes correspondence, press releases, photographs, printed items, campaign memorabilia, and miscellaneous papers relating to Brown's participation in campaign activities on behalf of Democratic candidates in Virginia. These include: Charles R. Fenwick's 1953 campaign for governor, John F. Kennedy's 1960 Presidential campaign; Brown's candidacy for the Democratic nomination to the Virginia House of Delegates, 1961; William B. Spong, Jr.'s senatorial campaigns of 1966 and 1972; and William C. Battle's gubernatorial campaign of 1969. There are varying amounts of material regarding other campaigns, political activities and matters of interest including local Clarke Co. politics, pollution of the Shenandoah River, and the school crisis of 1959.

As a member of the Democratic Party, Brown corresponded with local, state, and national political figures. Noted correspondents in the collection are primarily Virginia political figures: William C. Battle, Mills E. Godwin, Jr., John O. Marsh, Jr., Harry F. Byrd, Jr., Burr P. Harrison, W. Pat Jennings, Albertis S. Harrison, Jr., William B. Song, Jr., Fournoy L. Largent, Jr., J. Lindsay Almond, Jr., Francis P. Miller, Charles McCurdy Mathias, Jr., Guy O. Farley, C. Harrison Mann, Jr., Armistead L. Boothe, and Fred G. Pollard. There are a few routine and thank-you letters to Brown from John F. Kennedy, Laurence F. O'Brien, Vermont Royster, William (Bill) Mauldin, Ethel Kennedy, and Lady Bird (Mrs. Lyndon B.) Johnson. Also included are carbons of many letters from Brown to Stephen E. Smith and Jean L. Lewis, Kennedy assistants, pertaining to the Kennedy campaign and Virginia politics.

Arrangement

The collection has been arranged alphabetically and chronologically, name files preceding subject files. Most of the original folder headings have been retained with some modifications.