Search

Back to top
Search Filters
Start Over Collection Samuel Miller Brownell and Esther Delzell Brownell papers, 1900-2003
1 collection found
All results Grouped by collection
List file List

Search Results

University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

Samuel Miller Brownell and Esther Delzell Brownell papers, 1900-2003

Online

20 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 1.2 MB (online)

Samuel Miller Brownell was an educator and school administrator who served as U.S. Commissioner of Education from 1953-1956 and as Superintendent of Detroit Public Schools from 1956 to 1966. He was married to Esther Delzell Brownell, who taught high school history before their 1927 marriage. This collection documents the Brownells' family life, and to a lesser extent, Samuel M. Brownell's career. Materials include a large collection of correspondence between Samuel and Esther Brownell, personal papers reflecting the family's social and cultural activities and daily life, and a series of scrapbooks, dating from 1900 to 1988, containing photographs, clippings, newsletters, correspondence, and ephemera. The older scrapbooks provide information about the early lives of both of the Brownells, and later scrapbooks document the family's vacations and Samuel Brownell's career as an educator, administrator, and political appointee.

The Samuel Miller Brownell and Esther Delzell Brownell collection documents the family life of two individuals from their courtship through their old age. To a lesser extent, the career of Samuel Brownell as educator is also documented. The papers are arranged roughly chronologically into three series, beginning with the lives of each of the Brownells before their marriage, and then following them as they moved from Nebraska to Michigan, to Connecticut, to Washington, D.C., to Michigan again, and finally to back to Connecticut.

Top 3 results in this collection — view all 189
Folder

Samuel Miller Brownell Papers, 1909-1989

The Samuel Miller Brownell Papers date from 1909 to 1989, and document some of his professional activities and his personal life prior to his marriage. This series includes a significant number of letters Brownell received from Esther Delzell during their courtship. The letters, which are very frequent, discuss Delzell's daily activities, her social life, her family, and her work as a teacher. The letters offer a glimpse of the life of a young working woman in the 1920s. Other items in this series are a postcard from Brownell to his grandmother, Mrs. Samuel Miller, a dramatization of Silas Marner written by Brownell, a letter noting his discharge from the Student's Army Training Corps in 1918, Brownell's curriculum vitae, and several photographs. The series also includes essays by Brownell on the subject of school administration, papers documenting his work as a consultant on the Iran Public Sector Management Program, and a catalog of the books Brownell donated to Southern Connecticut State University.

Samuel Miller Brownell and Esther Delzell Brownell papers, 1900-2003
Back to top