Roanoke Colonies Research Newsletter
Volume 4.1 (November 1996)

John Carter Brown Library Celebrates 150 Years

The John Carter Brown Library celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding this fall with a series of events in October and November. The John Carter Brown Library is one of the major collections of primary sources concerning American history before 1830, including all the Americas, North, Central, and South, as well as the Caribbean. Located on the Brown University campus in Providence, Rhode Island, the library is an independent organization with ties to the university. Several events celebrating the library's 150th anniversary involved participants connected with the Roanoke Colonies Research Office, including publication of a new work by David Beers Ouinn, emeritus professor of history at Liverpool University and a Roanoke Colonies Research Office advisory committee member.

On October 10, Ouinn was presented with the John Carter Brown Library Medal "in recognition of his distinguished achievement as a historian of the Americas." The presentation was made as part of the inauguration of the 150th Anniversary Celebration. The occasion also celebrated the publication of Ouinn's Sir Francis Drake as Seen by His Contemporaries (Providence, RI: John Carter Brown Library, 1996). The essay describes "the grudging admiration in which Drake was held by many Spaniards, in spite of his destructiveness to Spanish interests," as well as the fact that even though many people in England often accused Drake "of putting personal aspirations above national goals," he was still "a genuine hero to European Protestants everywhere, who were eager to see Spanish power checked." In fact, Quinn notes, pamphlets and poems about him appeared in at least seven European languages. Quinn's work is supplemented with a bibliography by Burton Van Name Edwards describing over 100 printed sources relating to Drake found in the John Carter Brown Library collection.

Other events celebrating the John Carter Brown Library's 150th anniversary with Roanoke Colonies Research Office connections included "The Language of Cultural Conversion in Early America" on October 9, a talk by Karen Kupperman of New York University and a Roanoke Colonies Research Office advisory committee member. On October 11, the John Carter Brown Library cosponsored a symposium entitled "Aspects of Travel and Exploration" with the Hakluyt Society, which is also celebrating its 150th anniversary. Included on this program was Mary C. Fuller of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who spoke on "Writing Origin Stories: The Cases of Newfoundland and Roanoke."

Anyone interested in further information about the John Carter Brown Library, its programs (including research fellowships), its publications, and its support organization, the John Carter Brown Associates, should write the John Carter Brown Library, Box 1894, Providence, RI, 02912, telephone (401) 863-2725, fax (401) 863-3477. Sir Francis Drake as Seen by His Contemporaries costs $18, plus $3.50 postage and packaging, with a 25% discount for John Carter Brown Library Associates; ordering information is available at the address above.

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