Brown, Edward Fisher (1889-1973)
Member of (4)
Participated in (1)
Mentioned in (2)
Hull-House
National Child Welfare Committee
New York City Board of Health
Progressive National Service, Child Welfare Committee
United States Department of Health
Edward Fisher Brown to Jane Addams, April 24, 1911
Edward Fisher Brown to Jane Addams, May 1, 1911
Charles Lionel Chute and Edward Fisher Brown to Jane Addams, May 9, 1911
Jane Addams to Clara Landsberg, July 4, [1905]
Hull-House Year Book 1906-1907
Biographical Text
Edward Fisher Brown was a student of New York University and a resident of the Hull-House in Chicago. In 1910, he began working for the National Child Labor Committee as an investigator and special agent. In 1913, he resigned from the National Child Labor Committee to work with the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, where he served as superintendent of the Bureau of Welfare of School Children. In 1914, he sat as a member of the Advisory Council of the New York Department of Health's Committee on Child Hygiene. From 1917 until 1921, Brown was a member of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission and, concurrently, acted as the impartial chairman of the garment industry from 1917 to 1920. He then began working with the New York City Board of Health as a member of the Diphtheria Prevention Commission. Later, in 1930, he was made both the director of New York's Noise Abatement Commission and a special deputy Health Commissioner. In 1932, he was appointed the president of the Health News Service. Brown conducted research providing data on the relationship between poverty and milk consumption, as well as a detailed directory that provided biographies on 25,000 fake doctors that were trying to serve the public. Brown also served as the general director of the Community Service of Boston and as the secretary of the Commission on the Extended Use of Public Buildings in Boston.
Brown was first married to Lillian Baren. Together they had a son, David. He later remarried to Nathalie Boshko. They had two children together. Brown died in 1973.
Child welfare activist
Community activist
Education activist
Labor activist
Military officer
Public health activist
Settlement house resident
Social welfare activist
Picture: Michael McNelis, 612 Noble St., age 8 yrs. Old, newsboy, National Child Labor Committee Collection, Library of Congress.
Thanks to Jeanne Kassof for pointing us to the photograph.
Child LaborChild WelfareChildrenEducationHealthHull-House ResidentsLegislationMilitaryPublic HealthResearchSanitationSocial WelfareTransportation
Good faith effort was made; if you have information, please contact JAPP.
DeLisi, Julianne
Lichon, Sara Catherine
Biebrich, Caitlin
First appears
Bibliography and Links
Edward Brown, New York, State Census, 1905
Edward Brown, of National Dairy, New York Times May 17, 1973, p. 46
Edward F Brown, New York, State Census, 1915
Edward F. Brown, Daily News May 17, 1973, p. 115
Edward Fisher Brown is Remembered in Boston, The Boston Globe June 9, 1930, p. 10
Edward Fisher Brown, 1940 United States Federal Census
Edward Fisher Brown, 83, Tampa Bay Times May 18, 1973, p. 43
Lillian A Barenborg, 1900 United States Federal Census
Motor Rattle is Foe to Good Health, Clarion-Ledger May 1, 1931, p. 4
New York (N.Y.). Dept. of Health Weekly Bulletin, 1914, pp. 264-5.
The Child Labor Bulletin, vol. 2, 1914, pp. 32, 112, 146.
The New York Charities Directory, 1917, p. 22.
"Brown, Edward Fisher (1889-1973)," Jane Addams Digital Edition, accessed February 9, 2023, http://digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/4658.