Thirty items loaned by the Branson Titanic Museum in Missouri include artifacts salvaged from the wreck, discovered in 1985. 25, is displaying Titanic-related items from its own collection - such as an anxious telegram Brown received from her son when she was aboard the rescue ship, Carpathia. The Molly Brown House Museum show, which runs from April 1 to Sept. Movie props, items salvaged from the wreck and a virtual time machine To prove the point, the museum is voyaging back in time to that fateful April of 1912 - in a quest to reveal not only fresh insights about the sinking, but also about a woman who may rank as Denver’s most famous but least understood. She spoke five languages, studied acting in Paris under Sarah Bernhardt, crusaded for women’s voting rights, ran for Senate and won the French Legion of Honor for her relief work during World War I.Ĭlearly, Brown, who lived from 1867 to 1932, was a fascinating person in her own right. Brown was far more remarkable than most people know. Perhaps the ushabti really saved Brown’s life - or perhaps it was her own level-headed behavior during that terrifying night. Today, that ushabti is one of many fascinating items on display in a new exhibition, “Heroine of the Titanic,” at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The ship sank in less than three hours, killing 1,500 passengers and crew. The world’s largest luxury ocean liner had just collided with a towering iceberg. On the night of April 14, Brown was reading in bed in her Titanic stateroom when she felt a jolt overhead. Purportedly, such ancient tomb ornaments brought good luck. The 45-year-old Denverite explored the pyramids by camel and shopped in a Cairo bazaar, where she bought a 3-inch high, turquoise-colored statue called an ushabti. Shortly before she boarded the RMS Titanic in the spring of 1912, wealthy socialite and activist Margaret Tobin Brown played tourist in Egypt. However, Margaret Brown’s progressive political views differed drastically from the Hills, who were publishers of the conservative newspaper The Denver Republican.Įditor's note: this story and sidebar has been corrected to reflect the proper name of the RMS Titanic, and the year, 1892, that the Browns struck gold. and Margaret Brown quickly became respected members of Denver society and at times, attended some of the same events as the Crawford-Hills. MYTH: Denver’s elite Sacred Thirty-Six, controlled by socialite Louise Crawford Hill, shunned Molly Brown and her husband, J.J., as ignorant upstarts.įACT: After moving from Leadville to Denver in 1893, J.J. and Margaret Brown had been married for seven years and had two children. Brown’s employer, the Ibex mining company, struck a rich vein of gold in the Little Jonny mine. MYTH: The Browns struck gold on their claim and became wealthy overnight.įACT: In 1892, J.J. Brown at a Catholic church picnic in 1886, Margaret Tobin wrote, “I wanted a rich man but I loved Jim Brown.” They married the same year. She ended up speaking five languages.įACT: After meeting the modestly paid mining engineer J.J. As a young bride in Leadville and later in Denver, Margaret Tobin Brown hired tutors to further educate herself and her children. She went to school until age 13, when she was expected to get a job to help support the household. MYTH: Molly Brown was an ignorant yokel who couldn’t read or write.įACT: Margaret Tobin grew up in a hard-working family of Irish immigrants in Hannibal, Missouri. Money was tight so Margaret Tobin got a job at a local department store, where she sewed carpets, draperies and shades. Brown.įACT: Margaret Tobin moved to Leadville in 1886 at age 18 to keep house for her brother, Daniel, who was hard at work in the mines. MYTH: Molly Brown worked as a saloon girl in Leadville before marrying J.J. But during her lifetime, no one ever addressed Margaret Tobin Brown as Molly. The creative team that turned Margaret Tobin Brown’s heavily-fictionalized life story into a Broadway musical chose the nickname, Molly, because it was easier to sing. These five fallacies and many others are busted by Kristen Iversen’s biography, “Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth.” Perhaps the most widespread myth is the name, Molly Brown.
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