Edgar A. Brown Papers
Collection
Identifier: Mss-0091
The papers document much of Senator Brown's political life in the Democratic Party at the county, state, and national levels. He served at the national level as executive committeeman, as a delegate to conventions, and as a long time representative on the Council of State Governments. The papers illuminate his prominence as President Pro Tempore and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1942-1972. Among his major interests were education, educational television, mental health, industry, highways and ports development, and state government reorganization. Many of the papers document his service to his constituents and Barnwell County. As a Life trustee of Clemson University, he collected official and personal papers, 1948-1975. These range from minutes of trustees' meetings to Clemson-Carolina football games to Harvey Gantt's integration of Clemson.
A large segment of the papers project Brown's personal and political life. These are illustrated by scrapbooks, 1911-1972, and boxes of newspaper clippings, 1920-1975; correspondence, programs, and greeting cards. Photographs include members of the various legislative committees, personal friends, and family members. Major events were captured in photographs, film, and videotapes. The collection is a valuable primary source for state political and economic history.
There are loose-leaf inventories of folder titles and memorabilia, a key word index to folder titles, incomplete card indices of subjects, personal names, photographs and memorabilia.
There are no restrictions on the use of the collection.
Edgar A. Brown was born July 11, 1888, to Augustus Abraham Brown and Rebecca Elizabeth Howard, near Shiloh Springs in Aiken County. He attended the common schools and Graniteville Academy. During 1906-1907 Brown worked as a law clerk and secretary. After a competitive examination he was appointed official Court Stenographer of the Second Judicial Circuit, a position he held until 1918. Before he was twenty-two years old he passed the South Carolina bar exam and was admitted to practice law June 3, 1910. December 30, 1913, Annie Love Sitgreaves and Brown married. They had one child, Emily.
Brown was active in the Democratic party serving as Chairman of the state party and on the Executive Committees at the county, state, and national levels. He was a state representative from 1921-1926. In 1925 he became Speaker of the House. In 1926 he resigned the speakership to run for the United States Senate. He opposed N. B. Dial and Ed Smith and lost to Smith in the second primary. In 1928, he was elected to the South Carolina Senate where he served until his retirement, July 28, 1972. Brown was a candidate for the United States Senate in 1938 but withdrew, and Ed Smith defeated Governor Olin D. Johnston. Again in 1954, upon the death of Senator Burnet Maybank, Senator Brown aspired to become a U.S. Senator. The Democratic Executive Committee chose him to be the Democratic candidate. Strom Thrumond opposed him in a write-in campaign and defeated Brown.
Senator Brown was elected by the Legislature in 1934 to the Board of Trustees of Clemson Agricultural College. Following a temporary absence in 1947, when dual office holding was a question, he was elected a Life Trustee in 1948. From Clemson he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1955. He continued his strong support during the periods when Clemson was transformed from a small, all-white military college into a coeducational, integrated university. He actively participated in implementing Clemson's reorganization plan recommended by management consultants, Cresap, McCormick, and Paget. He was vitally involved in the Hartwell Dam controversy, Harvey Gantt's peaceful integration of Clemson, and the university building program.
Senator Brown's associations included membership in the Elks, Knights of Pythias, Masons (Shriner), Methodist Church, Board of Stewards of Methodist Church (30 years), and Woodmen of the World. He attended as a Delegate the National Democratic Conventions in 1924, 1932, 1940, 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960 and 1964.
As a result of injuries received in an automobile accident, Brown died on June 26, 1975. Mrs. Brown had died earlier on May 26, 1973, as had his daughter, Emily Jefferies, on April 11, 1975.
147 Cubic Feet (includes 117 cubic feet papers; 31 scrapbooks of photographs and newspaper clippings; 4.5 cubic feet photographs; 11 5" and 7" tape recordings; 3 cassette recordings; 4 314" videotapes; and 2 reels 15mm television film.)
English
The papers consist of over two thousand folders numbered in two sequences reflecting the order in which they were accessioned and processed.
The first grouping consists of over seven hundred folders, scrapbooks, memorabilia, photographs, certificates, and resolutions which were received in 1969. Using key words in the folder titles, an index was created for the papers. Complete processing was not a major consideration when the university acquired the Brown papers; however, inventories, descriptions, labels, superficial organization, and simple indices to the papers and photographs were completed in order to have control of the papers. The remainder of the materials was numbered, described, and indexed or placed on loose-leaf inventories. The scrapbooks were numbered chronologically. However, while Brown's office used an alphabetical filing system, papers were not packed in this order for transfer to Clemson. The Cooper Library staff were instructed to maintain the original order but did not consider that the packing order might not be the original order. As a result, the first grouping of files was not listed in alphabetical order on the original finding aid.
In 1989, Ms. Berniece Holt began revising the arrangement and reprocessing the original portion of the papers. Folders were placed in alphabetical order and conservation measures taken. After Ms. Holt's retirement early the following year, the collection was left as it was until 1996 when Ms. Adriane Jackson supervised further work on it. In 1998, Ms. Vicki Schmid completed this project. A new index was prepared with new folder numbers 1 through 632. The original folder numbers were retained in the listing in parentheses as a reference for the use of researchers who had used the original index of folder numbers.
In 1975, following Senator Brown's death, the second grouping of over fourteen hundred additional folders was added to the collection. These folders are numbered 1 through 1471 and are preceded by a handwritten "L" (later) to distinguish them from the earlier folders. This number has also been recorded on each paper within the folder in the upper right corner. The "L" does not, however, appear in the finding aid.
Artifacts, audio and video, referred to collectively as "Tagged Items" are detailed on a typed list. Each item was assigned a number preceded by the letter "I". Audio and video are listed more accurately in the Audio & Video section of this finding aid. Scrapbooks are also listed separately in this finding aid. The handwritten locations in the "Tagged Items" list are not accurate; the repository moved after the list was made.
The papers and memorabilia were a gift to Clemson University from Edgar A. Brown. This gift and the announcement of the establishment of the Brown Foundation followed Clemson Board of Trustee resolutions of July 11 and 17, 1969. The first honored Brown on his 81st birthday, and the second invited and urged him to make available to the University his letters, papers and memorabilia to be placed in the University Library where a room would be named for him. The announcement of the Brown Foundation and of the plans for a room was made at a luncheon honoring Senator Brown on January 9, 1970. On May 6, 1971, the "Brown Room" ceremonies were held.
See "Arrangement" section for processing information.
The conversion of this finding aid to Encoded Archival Description format was made possible with a grant from the South Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board in 2009-2010. The finding aid was prepared for encoding by Jen Bingham.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository