Cabinet card featuring the John Brown bust owned by Mary E. Stearns. This cabinet card was printed by Litchfield Studios in Arlington, MA. A handwritten note on the back of the card reads, "John Brown. From the Bust taken while awaiting Execution in the Virginia Prison, by order of Mrs. George L. Stearns, October 1859. This is the only marble Bust of the Martyr, at present writing - 1919 - in the world. It was only secured by the earnest entreaty of Mrs. Stearns, for whom, and his faithful friend Mr. Stearns, he cherished warm regard. E. A. Brackett, Sculptor."
Cabinet card featuring the John Brown bust owned by Mary E. Stearns. The photograph used for the card was printed by W. Shaw Warren of Cambridgeport, Cambridge, MA.
Attribution:
Warren, W. Shaw
Attribution Statement:
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Photography Collection, The New York Public Library
Excerpts from the handwritten will of Mary E. Stearns, who died in December 1901. The excepts itemize a number of specific objects in her house that she would like to be donated to Tufts College after her sons are finished with them. The text reads, "Also to hold for the use and enjoyment of the said Henry during his life the following described articles of personal property situated in the house where I now reside namely: my tall "grandfather's clock" on the front stairway, the "highboy," the cabinet, the tripod table, the old English mirror, all the old-fashioned chairs which belonged to my deceased husband, the bust of John Brown, the bust of George L. Stearns, the bust of Beethoven, the bust of Emerson, the bust of Clytie, the Venus of Milo, and the several paintings painted by my old friend Christopher P. Cranch, excepting only the one hereinbefore given to Lenora Cranch Scott, said articles all to be kept, preserved and used by him during his life in the house where I now live and not elsewhere."
