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Lilian Brown Photographs
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Lilian MacLaughlin Brown was an author and second wife of paleontologist Barnum Brown with whom she frequently accompanied on fossil expeditions around the world. She wrote about their travels in books such as I Married a Dinosaur (1950) and Bring 'Em Back Petrified (1958).
Consists of about 1,000 photographs of Burma (now Myanmar), India, and Jammu and Kashmir (documented areas are now in India and Pakistan) most likely taken by Lilian Brown while she accompanied her husband, paleontologist Barnum Brown, on an expedition for the American Museum of Natural History in 1923-1925. Brown wrote about the experience in her book, I Married a Dinosaur (1950).
Many of the images are not captioned, but a significant number are coded "B," "I," or "K" on the front or back to indicate where they were taken, with further numerical key identifying cities, villages, or regions, thought the corresponding key for photographs of Burma is missing. There is a handwritten list of the Burma images by number, with a note on the content added when there is a caption or if the compiler (someone who apparently worked with the photos at an unknown later date) was able to identify the specific subject or location. All photographs are snapshot-sized, with the vast majority measuring 3.75 x 4.5 inches. There are also a few postcards scattered througout.
In India, there are photos of Bombay, Elephant Isle, Jubbulpur, Calcutta, Asansol, Benares, Fatehpur-Sikri, Agra, Delhi, Old Delhi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Taxilla, Dhok Pathan, Jacobahad, Simla, Kalka, Patiala, Chandigargh, Marni, and Siswan. Photographs of Kashmir are categorized as Jhelum River, Along Road, Rampur, Baramula, Srinagar, Dal Lake, Shalimar Bagh, Nishat Bagh, Avantipur-Martand, Jammu, and Udhampur. Although there are some images of cityscapes, temples, shrines, and other cultural sites, the collection is more focused on people and daily life in rural landscapes and small villages. Several photos show the Palaung and Kayan people of Burma. Another sequence shows people at work in the oil fields of Yenangyaung. Seven images show Minimarg, Pakistan. Some photos show members of the expedition, including presumably, Lilian and Barnum.
Photographs were kept in the arrangement in which they came to the library.
According to the dealer, Timbuktu Books purchased the collection from a dealer who purchased it from the estate of Walter A. Fairservis (1921-1994), an archaeologist and author who worked for the Museum of Natural History beginning in 1941.
Purchased from Walkabout Books in 2020. (AM 2025-023)
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Faith Charlton in 2024. Finding aid written by Faith Charlton in 2024 incorporating description from the dealer. Photographs that were in binders were removed from these enclosures. Identifying codes were added to the back of photographs in cases where that information was only marked on a print's accompanying negative. Some photographs with identifying information on the back were removed from their sleeve enclosures.
About 60 nitrate negatives were removed from the collection during 2024 processing. All had corresponding prints aside from two, which were digitized.
People
Place
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Faith Charlton
- Finding Aid Date
- 2025
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
2 folders
The two digitized photographs were nitrate negatives that lacked complete, accompanying prints. The negatives were removed from the collection.
Physical Description4 folders
2 folders
Includes a mix of photographs documenting all three geographic locations.
Physical Description4 folders