TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
Biography of Brown Family Members
Scope and Content of the Collection
Series 1: Correspondence and Writings, 1918-1972
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Inventory of the Brown Family Papers, 1918-1972, bulk 1923-1932
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Polly Smith, 2009. ©2009. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
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| Creator | Brown family (Kentucky) |
| Title | Brown Family Papers |
| Dates | 1918-1972 |
| Dates | bulk 1923-1932 |
| Extent | 2.5 cubic feet (4 boxes and 1 oversize box) |
| Abstract | Correspondence, writings, newspaper clippings, numerous group and portrait photographs, a scrapbook, travel and souvenir items and snapshots, relating to sisters Grace and Genevieve Brown, musicians who were members of three American all-girl bands between 1923 and 1932. A large part of the collection consists of photographs of the bands and the performers: Harry Waiman and the Debutantes, the Parisian Red Heads and the Ingenues, as well as numerous small travel photographs Also a small collection of brother McAuliffe’s World War I memorabilia including a very dramatic small journal kept during battle in 1918. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Midwest MS Brown Family |
| Collection Stack Location | 3a 37 2 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
Brown Family Papers, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Gift, Kathleen Davis, Feb. 2005.
Processed by
Ginger Frere, 2005; Virginia Hay Smith, 2009.
Access
The Brown Family Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room (Priority III).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Brown Family Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
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Biography of Brown Family Members
This collection, assembled and preserved by Kathleen Davis, includes information on three of the descendants of Kentucky state senator, Augustus E. Brown (1863-1927) and his wife Grace Truman Richardson Brown (1867-1955) who made their home in Hardinsburg, Kentucky. Although there were nine Brown children, these papers reflect time periods in the lives of the eldest, McAuliffe, and the two youngest, Grace and Genevieve, all of whom were talented musicians.
McAuliffe Brown (1889-1963) served as a corporal the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. At the close of the war he was fighting on the front lines in France. He and his company marched into Germany in December of 1918. Earlier in his career, McAuliffe had played in the army band.
Grace Brown (1901-1990) was known for her musical and comedic talents. She first appeared with Harry Waiman and the Debutantes in 1923-1924. By 1927, she was performing as a musician and comedic dancer with the Parisian Red Heads, an all-girl vaudeville band. The group, starring Bobbie Grice, performed across the United States on various entertainment circuits. By 1929 Grace had joined her sister Genevieve as a member of another all-girl orchestra, the Ingénues.
Genevieve Brown (1903-1971), a graduate of the University of Kentucky at Lexington, also played several musical instruments, including the sousaphone. From 1926 through 1932, Genevieve was a member of the Ingénues, managed by E. G. “Eddie” Sherman. The Ingénues attained such fame on the Orpheum circuit that they became part of the Ziegfeld Follies for the 1927 season. Following this success, the group went on world tours, playing theaters in Africa, Australia, Europe, the Near East and South America.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Correspondence, newspaper clippings, personal papers, photographs, Genevieve’s scrapbook, and souvenir items from McAuliffe, Grace and Genevieve Brown covering the time period of 1918-1972, with the bulk of the items from 1923 to 1932.
The papers contain correspondence from the three Brown children to their mother. A few photographs and a small journal kept by McAuliffe includes some details of his experiences on the frontlines in World War I. There are numerous individual and group photographs of the three all-girl orchestras that Grace and Genevieve performed with – Harry Waiman and the Debutantes, the Parisian Red Heads and the Ingénues. Letters and postcards sent home provide details of their travels. Numerous travel photographs, postcards and other ephemera collected while the Brown sisters were on tour are also included, and the scrapbook contains many clippings with reviews of their performances.
Narrative descriptions of the subject matter, types of material, and arrangement of each series are located in the Container List. They are included with the box and folder lists for the particular materials they describe.
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Organization
Papers are organized in the following series:
- Series 1: Correspondence and Writings, 1918-1972. Box(es) 1
- Series 2: All-Girl Bands, 1923-1932. Box(es) 1-2
- Series 3: Travel and Souvenirs, 1926-1932. Box(es) 3-4
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Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.
Names
- Brown family (Kentucky)
- Brown, Genevieve, 1903-1971
- Brown, Grace, 1901-1990
- Brown, McAuliffe, 1889-1963
- Harry Waiman and His Debutantes
- Ingénues
- Parisian Red Heads
- Ziegfeld Follies
Subjects
- All-Girl Bands
- Correspondence -- 1918-1932
- Jazz -- 1921-1932
- Jazz -- 1931-1940
- Journals (accounts) -- 1918
- Manuscripts, American
- Photographic Postcards
- Photographs - 1918-1932
- Picture Postcards
- Scrapbooks -- 1926-1929
- Travel literature -- 1926-1932
- Vaudeville
- Viewbooks
- Women jazz musicians -- United States
- Women musicians -- United States
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
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Container List
Series 1: Correspondence and Writings, 1918-1972 |
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| The series contains notes to the Brown sisters from fans, letters to and from their mother in Hardinsburg, Kentucky, plus many postcards to Mrs. Brown. There is one letter from McAuliffe to his mother and a small, dramatic journal he kept during the battles he was engaged in on the French and Belgian fronts in World War I, and a few other family-related items. | |||||||||||
| Arranged by individual name. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Brown, Genevieve: Outgoing letters, 1928-1932 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Brown, Genevieve: Outgoing postcards, 1928-1932 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Brown, Genevieve: Incoming correspondence, 1928-1932 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Brown, Genevieve: Travel memoir, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Brown, Grace: Outgoing correspondence, 1929-1932 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Brown, Grace: Incoming correspondence, 1929-1972 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Brown, McAuliffe: Outgoing correspondence, 1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Brown, McAuliffe: Journal and photographs, 1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Brown Family: Miscellaneous correspondence, 1927-1931 | |||||||||
Series 2: All-Girl Bands, 1923-1932 |
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| This series consists almost entirely of numerous group and individual professional portrait photographs of the all-girl bands: Harry Waiman and His Debutantes, Parisian Red Heads, and the Ingenues. As well as photographs, there are a few newspaper clippings relating to the Parisian Red Heads, and some clippings and promotional material relating to the Ingenues. | |||||||||||
| Arranged by the band name, type of material and individual name. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Harry Waiman and His Debutantes, Berry, Irene, 1924, 1923-1924 - Photograph | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Harry Waiman and His Debutantes, Brown, Grace, ca. 1924, 1923-1924 - Photograph | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Harry Waiman and His Debutantes, Schrayer, Bobbie, 1923, 1923-1924 - Photograph | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Harry Waiman and His Debutantes, Vance, Barbara, ca. 1924, 1923-1924 - Photograph | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Harry Waiman and His Debutantes, Waiman, Harry, 1924, 1923-1924 - Photograph | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Harry Waiman and His Debutantes, Erna and Rube, 1923-1924, 1923-1924 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Harry Waiman and His Debutantes, Group, 1923-1924 - Photograps | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. 1927 - Newspaper Clippings, 1927 | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Brown, Grace, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Bush, Mitzi, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Cook, Claudia, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Evans, Jerry, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Evanson, Val, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Fay, Judy, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Gift, Marietta, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Grice, Bobbie, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Hardy, Dorothy (?), 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Malcolm, Daphne, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 28 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Miller, Alice, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Moore, Betty, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 30 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Odetta, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 31 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Pierson, Gene, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 32 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Schofield, Betty, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 33 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. Group, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 1 | 34 | Parisian Red Heads, ca. See Oversize, 1927 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 35 | Ingenues, 1926-1932 - Newspaper clippings, 1927-1932 | |||||||||
| 2 | 36 | Ingenues, 1926-1932 - Promotional material | |||||||||
| 2 | 37 | Ingenues, 1926-1932 - Theater programs, 1927-1932 | |||||||||
| 2 | 38 | Ingenues, Baumgarten, Jean, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 39 | Ingenues, Brown, Genevieve, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 40 | Ingenues, Brown, Grace, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 41 | Ingenues, Colby, Babe, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 42 | Ingenues, Donahue, Dorothy, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 43 | Ingenues, Dove, Pauline, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 44 | Ingenues, Gordon, Frances, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 45 | Ingenues, Grimm, Vilma, 1927, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 46 | Ingenues, Henke, Margaret, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 47 | Ingenues, Jenks, Billie, 1928, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 48 | Ingenues, Jones, Paula, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 49 | Ingenues, Lichtie, Marguerite, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 50 | Ingenues, Liefeld, Adelaide, 1928, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 51 | Ingenues, Locklin, Alice, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 52 | Ingenues, O'Neil, Peggy, 1926, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 53 | Ingenues, Pleis, Alice, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 54 | Ingenues, Randell, Ruth, 1929, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 55 | Ingenues, Smith, Mina, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 56 | Ingenues, Standish, Laura, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 57 | Ingenues, Washburn, Genevieve, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 58 | Ingenues, Westgate, Lucy, 1928, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 59 | Ingenues, Young, Gladys, 1926, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 60 | Ingenues, Group, ca. 1927-1931, 1926-1932 - Photographs | |||||||||
| 2 | 61 | Ingenues, See Oversize, 1926-1932 - Photographs: Group | |||||||||
| 2 | 62 | All-Girl Bands, Unidentified, 1924-ca. 1932 | |||||||||
Series 3: Travel and Souvenirs, 1926-1932 |
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| Series includes a scrapbook put together by Genevieve Brown, full of items relating to the Ingenues, their appearances in the Ziegfeld Follies and their subsequent international tours. Includes clippings, photographs, shipboard and overseas souvenir booklets, menus, articles and a few pieces of correspondence. Also, there is a small group of souvenir booklets and postcards, receipts, and two 1931 shipboard newspapers of the S.S.France. Besides the scrapbook, the bulk of the Travel and Souvenir material consists of hundreds of small photographs and snapshots, both personal and commercial, of various cities and countries the Brown sisters visited on their overseas professional travels between 1929 and 1932. | |||||||||||
| Arranged by type of material and name of subject. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 3 | 63 | Brown, Genevieve: Scrapbook, 1926-1929 | |||||||||
| 3 | 64 | Miscellaneous memorabilia, 1927-1932 | |||||||||
| 3 | 65 | Miscellaneous memorabilia, See Oversize, 1927-1932 | |||||||||
| 3 | 66 | Photographs, Avignon (France) | |||||||||
| 3 | 67 | Photographs, Bizerte (Tunisia) | |||||||||
| 3 | 68 | Photographs, Bombay (India) | |||||||||
| 3 | 69 | Photographs, Brighton (England) | |||||||||
| 3 | 70 | Photographs, Cairo (Egypt) | |||||||||
| 3 | 71 | Photographs, Cape Town (South Africa) | |||||||||
| 3 | 72 | Photographs, Carthage, (Tunisia) | |||||||||
| 3 | 73 | Photographs, Edinburgh (Scotland) | |||||||||
| 3 | 74 | Photographs, Germany | |||||||||
| 3 | 75 | Photographs, Johannesburg (South Africa) | |||||||||
| 3 | 76 | Photographs, Lomond, Loch (Scotland) | |||||||||
| 3 | 77 | Photographs, London (England) | |||||||||
| 4 | 78 | Photographs, Madiera Islands | |||||||||
| 4 | 79 | Photographs, Milan (Italy) | |||||||||
| 4 | 80 | Photographs, Monte-Carlo (Monaco) | |||||||||
| 4 | 81 | Photographs, New Orleans (La.) | |||||||||
| 4 | 82 | Photographs, Paris (France) | |||||||||
| 4 | 83 | Photographs, Potsdam (Germany) | |||||||||
| 4 | 84 | Photographs, San Francisco, CA | |||||||||
| 4 | 85 | Photographs, San Souci; St. Lucia | |||||||||
| 4 | 86 | Photographs, Sicily (Italy) | |||||||||
| 4 | 87 | Photographs, South Africa; Zululand | |||||||||
| 4 | 88 | Photographs, Southampton (England) | |||||||||
| 4 | 89 | Photographs, Stratford-upon-Avon (England) | |||||||||
| 4 | 90 | Photographs, Sydney (N.S.W.) | |||||||||
| 4 | 91 | Photographs, Misc. personal snapshots | |||||||||
| 4 | 92 | Photographs, Misc. commercial views: Australia; Brazil; Egypt | |||||||||
| 4 | 93 | Photographs, Misc. commercial views: France; New Zealand; Portugal | |||||||||
| 4 | 94 | Photographs, Misc. picture postcards | |||||||||