Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown (1842–1918)
Abstract
Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown (1842–1918) was a native of New York City with strong New England Protestant ancestry. The wife of a banker and mother of six children, beginning in the 1880s she developed an interest in musical instruments. By the end of that decade, she had built one of the largest and geographically diverse collections in the United States. Her status as a woman in the field and in the male-dominated museum world amazed many but never daunted her. Brown donated her collection, eventually totally more than 3,600 instruments, to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Libraries and Information Services
Biographical and Historical Analysis
Musicology and Musical Analysis
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Routledge eBooks
- Pages
- 152–165
- Publication date
- 2 February 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter