Born March 25, 1906 ( 1906-03-25 ) Brooklyn, NY Occupation Historian and collector of military memorabilia. Known for Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection. Died 21 November 1985, Newport, Rhode Island, United States | ||
Anne Seddon Kinsolving Brown was born on March 25, 1906, in Brooklyn to Rev. Arthur B. and Sally Bruce Kinsolving. When she was six months old her family moved to Baltimore where her father took the position of rector at Old St. Paul's Episcopal Church. (Eventually Rev. Kinsolving became Bishop of Baltimore).
She attended Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore, graduating in 1924. For the next several years she worked as a journalist for the Baltimore News, writing on a variety of topics including music, theater and art. In 1930 she met John Nicholas Brown II, a Brown family heir who eventually became Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR) from 1946 to 1949.
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 Brown University. In 1965 she lectured on military history at the University of California.
Anne and John had three children: John Carter Brown III (1934-2002), who became director of the National Gallery of Art; Nicholas Brown (b. 1933), who became a captain in the United States Navy and the director of the National Aquarium in Baltimore from 1983 to 1995; and Angela Brown Fischer.
Anne Brown died at her home "Harbor Court" in Newport, RI, on November 21, 1985.