The Joseph Vincent Browne papers document his varied political and maritime career and contains items documenting Browne's tenure as Boston Navy Agent, his interests in the American Hemp Company and the Western Mining Company, his duties as San Francisco Custom House appraiser, his work in Essex County as Collector of Internal Revenue and Receiver of Commutation Money, and the political interests in which he was avidly involved. The papers are organized into six series.

Series I. The Letterbooks provide an overview of Browne's activities from 1842 to 1863. The first volume contains Navy Agent and Navy Pension Agent correspondence, letters closing the accounts of Brown's early merchant firm, J. Vincent Browne and Company, and political and general financing correspondence. The second volume includes Navy Agent and San Francisco appraiser's correspondence.

Series II. Navy Agent and Hemp Merchant Papers contains correspondence, reports, and legal and financial papers reflecting Browne's tenure as Boston Navy Agent and Navy Pension Agent, and his interest in the growth and sale of hemp to the United States Navy. The correspondence includes purchase and transport orders for Navy goods and machinery, pension requests and news of the Springfield, Illinois, hemp farm. Also included are letters and memorials regarding Browne's conflicts with the government: questions concerning his Navy Agent accounts and the prices of hemp shipments delivered to the United States navy. The case materials also document a disagreement between Browne and the government.

This series includes Browne's 1841 navy Agent appointment (signed by President John Tyler), receipts for Navy stores and repairs, reports on the international hemp market, accounts for raising and manufacturing hemp, a contract for building a hemp factory, and 1850 navy Pension Agent accounts.

Series III. Appraiser and Mining Papers documents Browne's activities on the west coast of the United States from 1848 to 1855. The correspondence contains descriptions of cargo appraisal difficulties, smuggling, questions regarding use of the San Francisco storehouse and refunds of erroneously collected duties. Also included are letters documenting Browne's interest in the purchase and operation of the Western and Merced Mining Companies (both near San Francisco). It appears that Browne and his mining partners were also interested in developing San Francisco wharves and warehouses. The miscellaneous papers contain legal papers questioning appraisers' valuations, cargo invoices, and duty accounts, lists of vessels sailing out of Boston and Baltimore to California (1847-1849), and 1848-1849 duty accounts collected before California imposed revenue laws. The miscellaneous papers also include 1851 incorporation papers of the Western Mining Company, shares in mining companies and contracts, maps and receipts for construction of wharves and warehouses in San Francisco and Benecia, California.

Series IV. Collector's Papers contains correspondence, accounts and enrollment lists, reflecting Brownes' position as Essex County Collector of Internal Revenue and Receiver of Commutation Money. Included in the miscellaneous paper is a petition of Danvers' "manufacturers and slaughterers" for their own Deputy Collector.

Series V. Political and Business Papers reflects Browne's interests in national and New England politics, non-California mining ventures, savings banks, ship timber bending, and maritime law. The correspondence contains fascinating accounts of Washington and New England politics during the presidency of John Tyler. Included is news of the cabinet's resignation, reorganization of the Navy, the popularity of Henry Clay (1777-1852), and the Tyler re-nomination convention. Brownes' interest in maritime law is documented in two 1858 cases for which he acted as an attorney: the collision of the US Release and Brig Leontine, and the impressment of an American seaman off the Salem brigantine Rockingham by a French vessel. The miscellaneous papers contain deeds for land in Maine, incorporation papers of the Essex County Institute for Trusts and Deposits, petitioners for the Salem Five Cents Savings Bank, and a list of delegates to the 1850 Salem Representative Convention.

Series VI. Family and Miscellaneous Papers includes receipts and poetry of Browne's grandfather, Joseph Vincent (1737-1832), shipping and business papers of Captain George Hodges, and miscellaneous essays, poetry, sheet music, memorandums, a deed, an index, and 1861 testimonials promoting Newell A. Thompson as Boston Navy Agent.