Frances Brown's Botanical Garden 

A collection of watercolor paintings of California botanicals made by Frances Brown. 

Frances Brown was born in April of 1874 in Oroville, California, she passed in January of 1956 at the age of 81. As a Butte County local, Mrs. Brown was a very active member of the community, she was a member of the Paradise Art Club as well as the Women’s Club of Durham and the First Christian Church of Chico. Later in life, Mrs. Brown spent much of her time creating the botanical art collection of the Butte County wildflowers, by the end of her life she had created around 500 botanical watercolor paintings. She held exhibits of her botanical artwork at the First Christian Church of Chico and at the Silver Dollar Fair Grounds in Chico, California. It is assumed the paintings were created between 1920 and 1956, towards the end of Frnaces Brown's life.

All of her paintings were done on site, using the real botanicals as an example for her art. Frances Brown’s husband, Eno Brown, drove her around Northern California in search of flowers to paint for her collection. There are notes in the margines of her books noting locations like Mendoceino County, Mt. Shasta, the coast, and Mt. Lassen as places she likely created the water color paintings. Brown researched each plant and family and included the information in her books on the cover pages. Included in the physical exhibit are rare books from the Special Collections department of the Meriam Library at Caifornia State University of Chico, where the full Frances Brown Botanicals Collection is housed. The collection was passed down through generations of Frances Brown's family until it was donated by distant relative Janet Brinson.