Title and statement of responsibility area
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Statement of scale (cartographic)
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Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1838-1918, predominant 1860-1903 (Creation)
- Creator
- Brown, Richard (family)
Physical description area
Physical description
- 1.1 m of textual records
- 39 maps
- 37 architectural drawings
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born in Lowther, England, Richard Brown (1805-1882) trained as a mining engineer in the coal mines belonging to Viscount Lowther. In 1825 he was sent to examine and report on the coal mines in Cape Breton, N.S. Brown became general manager of Sydney Mines at Sydney, N.S., where he met and married Sibella Margaret Barrington (1808-1880), daughter of Captain Charles and Elizabeth Barrington, in 1834. They had six children: Margaret Sibella (1836-1854), Richard Henry (1837-1920), Charles Barrington (1839-1917), David Edward (1841-1906), Henry Yorke Lyell (1843-1928), and Sibella Harriott (1847-1911). Brown retired from the mine in 1864 and returned to England. He was succeeded by his son Richard Henry, who served as general manager until 1901. Richard Henry married Barbara Davison (1842-1898) in Pictou, 1864. Their five children were all born at Sydney Mines: twins Margaret (1866-1961) and Elizabeth (1866-1951), Annie (1869-1918), Richard (1872-1928), and Lillian (1878-1967).
Custodial history
Scope and content
Fonds consists of correspondence between Richard Brown Sr. and Richard Henry Brown Jr. regarding mining operations at Sydney Mines, and family and social news; correspondence between numerous other Brown family members describing family and personal news including a political confrontation with Sir Charles Tupper; reports and financial statements relating to Richard Henry's private investments and dealings with the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Co., Improved Dwellings Co., and other businesses; deeds and mortgages for acquisition and sale of properties at Sydney Mines and Halifax; working drawings and floor plans of Beech Hill (mine manager's residence); plans for Trinity Church at Sydney Mines; notes, memoranda, statistics, and working drawings concerning technical aspects of Cape Breton mining; maps, mostly hand-drawn by Richard Henry and son Richard Charles Brown; and ephemera. Fonds also contains material relating to the General Mining Association, Henry Poole, inspector of coal mines and noted mining authority, and the Archaeological Institute of America.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Donated by the estate of Lillian Brown, through her niece Ethel Johnstone, in 1967.
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
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Finding aids
Item list available.
Associated materials
Other records relating to Richard Henry Brown Jr. are found in the R.H. Brown fonds.
Accruals
General note
Previously known as the Richard Brown collection.