Restrictions to Access

Boxes 18-22 are closed to research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Robert V. N. Brown Papers #5312, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Margaret Brown of Chapel Hill, N.C., in February 2007 (Acc. 100582).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Biff Hollingsworth, August 2007

Encoded by: Biff Hollingsworth, August 2007

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• African Americans--Civil rights--North Carolina.
• Brown, Robert V. N.
• Bulkley, Joel.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--History--20th century.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Periodicals.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Race relations.
• Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Chapel Hill Committee for Open Business (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
• Civil rights--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Editors--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Gilson, Mary Barnett.
• Godwin, Gail.
• Hackney, Joe.
• Hicks, Bill.
• Journalists--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Newspaper publishing--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• North Carolina--Politics and government--1951-
• Nye, Kemp Battle, 1916-
• Okun, Daniel Alexander.
• Periodicals--Publishing--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Political activists--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
• Publishers and publishing--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Racism--North Carolina.
• Reflections from Chapel Hill.
• Rooke, Leon.
• Social reformers--North Carolina.
• The Chapel Hill conscience.
• The North Carolina anvil.
• Underground press publications--North Carolina.
• Williams, Jonathan, 1929-2008.

Robert Vincent Brown (1933-2006) was born in Belle Harbor, Long Island, N.Y., on 10 June 1933 to Alexander "Al" Brown and Katherine Heinz "Tottie" Brown and grew up in the Bronx, N.Y. Brown added the second middle name, Neruda, to honor one of his heroes, the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.

In 1952, Brown joined the United States Air Force. He served in the Korean War as a gunner on more than 130 sorties and received several serious injuries when his plane was shot down. As a result, he was given several commendations for bravery in action. After serving in the Air Force, Brown studied history at Columbia University, then moved to Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1958 to pursue graduate studies in southern history at the University of North Carolina.

In 1961, Brown began publishing the literary magazine Reflections from Chapel Hill . In 1963-1964, at the height of the local civil rights movement, Brown published The Chapel Hill Conscience, a newsletter for the Committee for Open Business, an organization dedicated to desegregation of Chapel Hill businesses. His role in the Chapel Hill civil rights movement is chronicled in the book The Free Men by John Ehle (1965). In 1966, Brown, along with writer Leon Rooke, began publishing the alternative newspaper The North Carolina Anvil . The newspaper ran until 1983, when Brown retired from publishing. Brown also operated a job printing studio called Buffalo Printing during the 1970s and 1980s to support the printing of the Anvil.

In 1970, Brown married Margaret W. Brown (nee Mason), a political and environmental activist in Orange County, N.C., who served as an Orange County commissioner, 1996-2004. Robert V. N. Brown died on 5 February 2006 in Hillsborough, N.C.

The Robert V. N. Brown collection consists of subject files, letters to the editor, business and financial records, and other materials that document Brown's work in newspaper publishing, especially as publisher of the alternative weekly newspaper The North Carolina Anvil.

Subject files appear in various formats including correspondence, notes, writings, clippings, and other materials. Most of the subject files relate to the operations of The North Carolina Anvil. Correspondence in this series chiefly relates to Brown's administrative tasks as editor and publisher. Subject files also contain notes and correspondence relating to the literary magazine Reflections from Chapel Hill that Brown published from 1961 to 1964. Correspondents include Jonathan Williams and Gail Godwin.

Letters to the editor consist of correspondence created and received by co-editors of The North Carolina Anvil, Brown and Joel Bulkley, 1967-1982. Among the correspondents are politicians, social activists, university professors, writers, fellow publishers, and many others. Correspondents include Mary Barnett Gilson, Bill Hicks, Joe Hackney, Daniel Okun, and Kemp Nye.

Business and financial records consist of materials relating to the business operations of The North Carolina Anvil and Brown's other publications and projects. Also included are records from Brown's other printing ventures Southern Associates Press and Buffalo Printing.

There is also a wide array of materials collected and created by Brown, including personal planners; pamphlets and other printed materials; copies Reflections from Chapel Hill , the literary journal published by Brown; multilith masking sheets; off-set printing plates; a t-shirt and matchbooks; digital scans of photographs of Brown with his publishing staff and other photographs; and other items.

• Oversized papers (OP-5312/Folders 1-3)
• Data compact disc (DCD-5312/1-2)