Collection
Guide
Administrative Information
Access and
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research.
Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but
does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this
collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections
Department.
Copyright: Please
read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use
Unpublished Materials"
Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports
access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections.
Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their
fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and
it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery
for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials.
Please read our Use of
Manuscripts Statement.
Biographical Note
Robert Morriss Browning, Ph.D., was born near Iowa City, Iowa, on August 22, 1893, and received his bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from the University of Iowa in 1916 and 1924, respectively. Between May 1917 and October 1922, Mr. Browning served as a lieutenant and, later, captain of infantry, in the U.S. Army.
In 1927, Mr. Browning received his doctorate in psychology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He taught at Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland, College Park, and at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, before joining the U.S. Civil Service Commission in 1929, where he was employed as a psychologist with the Department of Tests and Measurements, retiring in 1953. He died on December 4, 1963, at age 70. He and his wife Louise had two daughters.
Scope and
Contents
The Robert Morriss Browning Papers consist of correspondence between Mr. Browning and Karl S. Hoffman, a fellow University of Iowa student, and Mabel C. Williams, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of Iowa, between 1917 and 1922. The letters chronicle Mr. Browning's military activity in the U.S. Army during and following World War I, including letters from Germany during post-war operations. The collection also includes several photographs of Mr. Browning and Army colleagues, as well as postcards from European locales to which he traveled during 1920 --1922. A biography file includes a photocopy of Mr. Browning's application to the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, requesting an appointment as a Republican member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, a request which was denied by the administration.
The Robert Morriss Browning Papers consist of three series: I. Biographical; II. Correspondence (with sub-series arranged by recipient); III. Photographs.
Acquisition and Processing
Information
These papers
were given to the University of Iowa Libraries by
Anne Browning Nelson in 2001.
Guide posted
to Internet:
July
2006
Box Contents List
Series I
Biographical
Letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt requesting appointment to the United States Civil Service Commission, 1933 (photocopy)
Application to the United States Civil Service Commission, 1936 (photocopy)
Obituary, The Washington Post, 1963
Series II
Correspondence
Karl S. Hoffman
1917
1918
1919
1920 -- 1924
Mabel C. Williams
May -- July, 1917
August -- September, 1917
October, 1917
November -- December, 1917
January -- March, 1918
April -- June, 1918
July -- December, 1918
January -- July, 1919
August -- December, 1919
1920
1921 -- 1922
Other recipients
1921 --1922
Series III
Photographs
Portrait, 1917
Photographs (6), Separation Note: These photos were
originally enclosed with a letter to Karl S. Hoffman dated November 27,
1917
First week at ROTC
With 2nd Lieutenant W. F. Scott, morning after sleeping in tents and cooking own meals, dated October 21, 1917
The building Browning lived in during training camp
Weekend leave at Columbus Junction with unidentified woman
Cover trench dug by ROTC
Browning studying during ROTC
Postcard photograph, undated
Postcard photograph with correspondence to Earl S. Browning, 1922
Postcard photograph with correspondence to Mrs. Eli Browning, [1918 -- 1920]
Postcard photographs (2) with correspondence to Earl S. Browning and Karl S. Hoffman, [1918 -- 1920]
Postcard photograph, [1918 --1920]
Postcard photograph, [1918 -- 1920]
