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Brown’s fondness for the spotlight is the foundation of her outrageous, larger-than-life reputation. Most famous for surviving the Titanic disaster, Brown is often characterized as a brash social climber who stood out like a sore thumb among America’s upper class. Like Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley, Molly Brown has become a legendary figure of the American West.

Even the name “Molly” is part of the legend, says Kristen Iversen, author of the biography Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth. In , Richard Morris wrote a hit musical called The Unsinkable Molly Brown. “Her name was Margaret,” Iversen says. “They changed it to Molly because it was easier to sing.” The nickname stuck, and so did Morris’s refashioning of Brown as an uneducated gold digger who sings and dances her way to success. “The saloon-girl myth is very common in women’s history,” says Iversen, who believes the stereotype obscures women’s real contributions.

The Molly Brown House Museum aims to introduce visitors to the real Margaret Tobin Brown in a new NEH-funded exhibition, which opens June “Molly Brown: The Biography of a Changing Nation” places Brown in the context of Progressive Era America.

“She came from a background of equal rights for all—animals, children, black, white, I

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