Brown Room

Situated on the northwest corner of the library is the Brown Room.  Clarence M. Brown was a prominent Richmond attorney and Abraham Lincoln scholar who served on the Library's Board of Trustees for 26 years, 23 of those as president.  This room memorializes him and his service to the library, and is most often used as a meeting room.  It also houses a separate Civil War / Abraham Lincoln collection, the core of which consists of Mr. Brown's personal library.
The bookshelves with glass doors are from the balcony of the old Reading Room, and the high-backed chairs were used there also.  The large painting is "The Falls of Elliott's Mills" by Frank J. Girardin, one of the well-known "Richmond movement" artists.  Many of the furnishings and memorabilia are from the Brown home, including the framed photo of Clarence Brown.


Click for larger image


This railing outside the Brown Room was salvaged from the balcony of the old Reading Room.

oldread_rm_j.jpg (80460 bytes)
Approx. 1949


1800read_rm_j.jpg (74376 bytes)
Late 1800s

Click on these images to view photos of the old Reading Room.