Frederick Brown Company, Incorporation

File — Container: 4, Folder: 1

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The Frederick Brown Collection consists of two series. Series I contains a variety of personal and family papers, including letters, postcards and estate and life insurance documents. Letters between Frederick Zerban Brown and his mother, Jane Elizabeth Wells Brown (September 17, 1842 – September 30, 1928), contain information regarding company administration during the transition from Brown Jr. to Zerban Brown. These letters date from 1895 to 1897. The personal collection also contains postcards from a pre-World War I trip to Germany. Personal documents include life insurance information, estate information as well as legal paper work regarding the transition of the business from Brown Jr. to Zerban Brown.

Series II contains financial and legal records for the Frederick Brown Company. Included in these records are trademark and patent records; investment records, including stock certificates for companies in which the Frederick Brown Company made investments; by-laws and incorporation records; an 1889 company almanac; product labels and advertisements; and correspondence and legal records that document the company’s effort to retain use of the recipe for the Essence of Ginger after the implementation of the Federal Food and Drugs Act of 1906