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Cage 54
Ashmun Norris Brown
Scrapbooks, 1914-1941

The news stories of Ashmun Brown (1872-1948), Washington D. C. journalist, were acquired by Washington State University Library In 1958 as a gift from Mr. Brown's nephew, Nat Brown of Yakima, Washington. They were processed by Lawrence Stark in June, 1972.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

The son of a pioneer Seattle newspaperman, Ashmun Brown began his career in journalism in 1890 as a reporter in Seattle. For the next fifteen years he held reporting and editorial positions with newspapers in Seattle, Tacoma, San Francisco, Victoria, Spokane, Butte and Anaconda. From 1905 to 1907 he was Private Secretary to Governor Albert Mead of Washington, after which he relocated at Washington, D.C., beginning his career as a capitol reporter. He left reporting in 1910 and 1911 to serve as Private Secretary to Secretary of Interior Richard Ballinger and, after a short interlude as a periodical editor, returned to reporting the news of the national capitol for his former employer, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

From 1914 until his retirement in the early 1940's, Brown was the Washington Bureau correspondent successively for the Post-Intelligencer, the Seattle Times and the Providence (R.I.) Journal and Evening Bulletin. During this time he wrote about 25,000 stories, features and columns. His reporting tended to reflect his Republican connections in Washington, but was characterized by a proper journalistic non-partisanship. His coverage of national administrations of both political parties and of the Washington and Rhode Island delegations to Congress, both having members of each party, was quite complete. This thoroughness of reporting earned him a citation from the Pulitzer Prize Committee in 1936.

ARRANGEMENT

The 34 scrapbooks of news stories are arranged in three chronological series. Series 1, 1914-1923, contains Brown's stories as the Washington correspondent of the two Seattle newspapers. Series 2, 1920-1941, consists of the stories and columns he wrote for the Providence papers. Series 3 contains two scrapbooks of stories written 1916-1917, some of which were carried by the Washington, D.C., Star.

SHELF LIST

Item	Description
Series 1: Seattle Period, 1914-1923, Times and Post-Intelligencer
1	May 5, 1914 to May 19, 1915
2	May 20, 1915 to September 16, 1916
3	September 17, 1916 to June 19, 1917
4	June 20, 1917 to May 25, 1918
5	May 27, 1918 to April 22, 1919
6	April 23, 1919 to December 8, 1920
7	December 8, 1920 to October 31, 1921
8	November 1, 1921 to August 25, 1922
9	August 26, 1922 to February3, 1923
Series 2: Providence Period, 1920-1941, Journal and Evening Bulletin
10	October 11, 1920 to May 2, 1921
11	May 3, 1921 to December 11, 1921
12	December 12, 1921 to March 11, 1923
13	March 13, 1923 to April 6, 1924
14	April 6, 1924 to May 1, 1925
15	May 1, 1925 to June 20, 1926
16	June 23, 1926 to July 4, 1927
17	July 5, 1927 to May 5, 1928
18	May 5, 1928 to November 18, 1928
19	November 19, 1928 to May 9, 1929
20	May 10, 1929 to December 14, 1929
21	December 15, 1929 to June 25, 1930
22	June 25, 1930 to February 25, 1931
23	February 26, 1931 to December 3, 1931
24	December 3, 1931 to June 16, 1932
25	June 16, 1932 to March 23, 1933
26	March 23, 1933 to December 18, 1933
27	December 19, 1933 to August 17, 1934
28	August 17, 1934 to June 20, 1935
29	June 23, 1935 to September 17, 1936
30	September 18, 1936 to January 20, 1938
31	January 22, 1938 to December 7, 1939
32	December 9, 1939 to October 30, 1941
Series 3: Special Stories, 1916 to 1917, (many from Washington DC Star)
33	November 16, 1916 to February 10, 1917- Subject: President Woodrow Wilson
34	November 16, 1916 to February 10, 1917- Subject: Alaska