Margaret's Room
Narrated by Volunteer Museum Tour Guide Janet Kalstrom
MARGARET'S PRIVATE RETREAT
Margaret's Room c. 1910. Courtesy Stephan Hart Library, History Colorado
In this private retreat, Margaret wrote letters, planned her political campaigns, and read magazines that told her how to dress, raise her children, and champion for the right to vote. Here you can see clues about Margaret’s interests and beliefs including a prayer kneeler, monogrammed stationary, and family photos.
Music room of Mrs. James J. Brown's "Club Cottage," Newport, RI. Courtesy the Newport RI Historical Society
After 1911, Margaret rented a large home in Newport, Rhode Island, to be closer to her friends in the suffrage movement. She helped organize the 1914 Conference of Great Women with Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and attended Congressional Union meetings with Alice Paul.
Later in her life, Margaret pursued a career on stage, enrolling in acting school in Paris; she performed the works of Sarah Bernhardt many times. Margaret also played zither and guitar, and also studied the art of yodeling! In 1929, Margaret received the French Palm of the Academy, like an Oscar, for her many talents.
Legion of Honor Knighthood Given to Mrs. J.J. Brown. Denver Post 1932
“I am a daughter of adventure. This means I never experience a dull moment and must be prepared for any eventuality. I never know when I may go up in an airplane and come down with a crash, or go motoring and climb a pole, or go off for a walk in the twilight and return all mussed up in an ambulance. That’s my arc, as the astrologers would say. It’s a good one, too, for a person who had rather make a snap-out than a fade-out of life.
- Margaret Brown. 1929
In 1932, Margaret received the French Legion of Honor for her work during WWI with the Red Cross. Margaret also helped rehabilitate blinded soldiers by creating a school for them to learn Braille, having the works of fellow Missourian Mark Twain translated into Braille for the soldiers to read.
Margaret Tobin Brown died at the Barbizon Hotel in New York City in October of 1932 from a stroke caused by a brain tumor. After WWI and J.J.s death, she had found New York City to be an exciting place to live. Both Margaret and J.J. are buried in Holy Rood Cemetery, Long Island, New York, near the home of their daughter Helen.