Scope and Content Note
The papers of Charles Albert Browne (1870-1947) span the years 1783-1947, with the bulk of the material from 1909 to 1945. Much of the collection relates to his career at the New York Sugar Trade Laboratory and the United States Department of Agriculture. The papers include correspondence, writings and travel diaries, and research material related to the history of chemistry. As head chemist of the New York Sugar Trade Laboratory, Browne tested sugar purity for commercial producers and purchasers, and at the Agriculture Department he was engaged in sugar research and laboratory administration. The papers are arranged in four series: Correspondence , Subject File , Writings File , and Oversize .
The Correspondence file pertains largely to technical or professional issues. Reference is often made to laboratory operation and equipment, particularly saccharometers. Also included is dialogue concerning professional conferences, chemistry education, and the historical role of chemistry in agricultural science, as well as correspondence with editors of scientific journals. Many of Browne's correspondents wrote to find references or library materials relating to the history of chemistry and to thank him for reprints of articles. Many also wrote to inquire about positions during the retrenchment of the economic depression in the 1930s. Among the correspondents are Maurice Bird, Charles E. Coates, Rudolf E. Grotkass, Sir John Burchmore Harrison, Arthur Becket Lamb, Lyman C. Newell, and Henry E. Niese.
A grouping of special correspondence in the Correspondence series consists of letters from individuals with whom Browne kept closer contact. Many were classmates at Williams College, colleagues from Pennsylvania State College, or from abroad. Included is correspondence with Noël Deerr, Edmund O. von Lippmann, Edgar Fahs Smith, George Sarton, and B. Tollens, as well as letters to and from family members.
The Subject File includes autographs that Browne collected, documentation relating to professional organizations, historical committees, conference arrangements, and the establishment of scientific museums. Research material is largely in the form of photostats. Included are files relating to such pioneers of chemistry as Joseph Priestley, Evan Pugh, Norbert Rillieux, and John Winthrop. Browne's History of the New York Sugar Trade Laboratoryis in the Writings File . Photographs and correspondence related to the laboratory are in the Subject File . Also in the Subject File is material concerning the American Chemical Society, the History of Science Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Browne's interest in museums and scientific collections, such as those of Morris Loeb, Joseph Priestley, and Edgar Fahs Smith, is evident in correspondence with curators. Also, Browne maintained an ongoing dialogue with the Massachusetts Historical Society. An autograph file consists of manuscript letters of prominent authors, military and elected officials, and natural philosophers in America and abroad. They include Louis Agassiz, Jean Le Rond d'Alembert, Henri Becquerel, Sophia Bryant, Sir Charles Lyell, George Brinton McClellan, Elwyn Waller.
In the Writings File are travel diaries and laboratory journals containing personal and aesthetic commentary. The galley proofs of Browne's book on Thomas Jefferson are included, as are illustrations for his publication on the operation of sugar laboratories, A Handbook of Sugar Analysis. Also included are articles about the development of the sugar industry in the United States, Latin America, and the South Pacific. Several articles review the contributions of Justus Liebig, Edgar Fahs Smith, and John Winthrop. Browne authored obituaries for many of his contemporary chemists, which are filed by name of person in the Writings File and in the Correspondence . Browne's meticulous documentation of his international travels comprise a good part of the Writings File and include both a subject and person index. The journals, originally bound with the title “laboratory journals,” span the years 1919-1923 and reveal Browne's thoughts about colleagues in the sugar industry.