Henry Collins Brown (1862–1961) was a Scottish-born
New York historian, lecturer, and author, and the founder of the
Museum of the City of New York
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
. He arrived in New York at the age of 13.
After working as an advertising salesman, traveling throughout
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, he became a journalist for ''
The Sun'', writing about the city's history as well as its buildings. Brown also wrote several books about New York's history,
and was the editor of ''
Valentine's Manual
The ''Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York'', commonly known as ''Valentine's Manual'', was published annually by the city's Common Council from 1841 to 1870, and is of historical interest today partly because of its statistics and li ...
''.
Brown was first married to Kate Ross (died March 1918). They had four sons and two daughters, including
Kay B. Barrett. He married second Clara Brown Lyman on February 5, 1919; they resided at the
New York Biltmore Hotel
The New York Biltmore Hotel was a luxury hotel at 335 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The hotel was developed by the New York Central Railroad and the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and operated from 1913 to 1981. ...
.
He was also known to have lived in
Hastings-on-Hudson
Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of midtown Manh ...
.
Selected works
* (1904) ''The new subway in Manhattan''
* (1907) ''Mr. Goggles''
* (1913) ''Book of old New-York,''
* (1915) ''City of New York''
* (1916) ''Valentine's Manual of the City of New York''
:
Founder's edition, New Series 1916:
No. 2, New Series, 1917* (1916) ''Valentine's Manual of Old New York''
:
No. 3, New Series, 1919:
No. 4, New Series, 1920:
No. 5, New Series, 1921:
No. 6, New Series 1922:
No. 7, New Series, 1923:
No. 8, New Series, 1924* (1916) ''Henry Collins Brown ephemera''
* (1917) ''New York of to-day''
* (1919) ''A plea for the restoration of City Hall Park to its colonial aspect : together with the re-erection of the old liberty pole in honor of the Liberty Boys of 1918''
* (1919) ''The Clipper Ships of Old New York''
* (1922) ''Old Yonkers 1646-1922 : a page of history''
* (1922) ''When the gay white way was dark, and other stories''
* (1924) ''Fifth Avenue old and new, 1824-1924''
* (1924) ''Walks and talks around New York''
* (1924) ''New York of yesterday''
* (1925) ''The last fifty years in New York''
* (1925) ''Restoring the century-old residential glories of the East River''
* (1927) ''New York in the elegant eighties''
* (1928) ''In the golden nineties''
* (1928) ''Delmonico's : a story of old New York''
* (1935) ''Brownstone fronts and Saratoga trunks''
* (1936) ''From Alley Pond to Rockefeller Center''
* (1937) ''A mind mislaid''
* (1937) ''The lordly Hudson''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Henry Collins
Scottish emigrants to the United States
Museum founders
American male journalists
20th-century American non-fiction writers
1862 births
1961 deaths
History of New York City
Journalists from New York City
Writers from New York City
20th-century American male writers