Brooks, Alfred H. (Alfred Hulse), 1871-1924

Dr. Alfred H. Brooks, born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 18, 1871, died in Washington, D.C., November 22, 1924. American geologist and geographer who joined the U.S. Geological Survey for Alaska in 1898 and for whom the Brooks Mountain Range is named. Assuming full charge of the Alaska Survey in 1902 he devoted himself to it until his death, interrupted only by war service.

From the description of Alfred Hulse Brooks papers, 1895-1923. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 42065007

Alfred Hulse Brooks (1871-1924), an American geologist, served as Geologist in Charge of the Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources of the United States Geological Survey from 1903 to 1924.

Philip Sidney Smith (1877-1949), an American geologist, served as Geologist in Charge of the Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources of the United States Geological Survey from 1925 to 1944.

From the description of Alfred Hulse Brooks photographs and papers, 1892-1955 (bulk 1898-1924). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702201361

Alfred Hulse Brooks, an American geologist, was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was the son of Martha G. Brooks (born 1850) and Thomas Benton Brooks (1836-1900), a mining engineer and geologist. Brooks received his elementary and secondary education in Newburgh, New York. He studied engineering in the Polytechnik Instituts of Stuttgart (1889) and of Munich (1890), and graduated from Harvard University in 1894.

During his studies, Brooks worked as a junior member of topographical mapping parties of the United States Geological Survey in Vermont (1888) and northern Michigan (1889), and in a geological party investigating potential iron ore lands in northern Michigan (1891). Upon graduation from Harvard, he gained an appointment with the United States Geological Survey and engaged in topographic and geological work in the Appalachian Mountains and Michigan. In August 1897, he attended the VIIth International Geological Congress in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and studied for several months in Paris, France, at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle and Collège de France.

In March 1898, Brooks began working for the United States Geological Survey in Alaska. Between 1899 and 1911, he participated in six major expeditions that traversed Alaska to map its topography and geology. From 1903 until his death, he was Geologist in Charge of the Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources of the United States Geological Survey.

Brooks was a vice-chairman of the Alaska Railroad Commission (1911-1912), as well as president of the Geological Society of Washington (1911) and of the Washington Academy of Sciences (1921). In 1913, in recognition of his contributions in exploring and mapping Alaska, he received the Charles P. Daly Medal of the American Geographical Society and the Conrad Malte-Brun Medal of the Société de Géographie (Paris). In 1917-1919, he served as chief geologist of the American Expeditionary Force in France.

In 1903, Brooks married Mabel Whitman Baker Brooks (1876-1962). They had a daughter and son, Mary (born 1906) and Thomas Benton (born 1910).

Philip Sidney Smith (1877-1949) was born in Medford, Massachusetts. He earned three degrees in geology from Harvard (A. B., 1899; A.M., 1900, and Ph.D., 1904, where he taught geology from 1903 to 1906. In 1906, he began work with the United States Geological Survey in Alaska. In 1915, he became the Administrative Geologist of the Geological Survey and was later Acting Director. In 1925, he became Geologist in Charge of the Division of Alaskan Mineral Resources of the United States Geological Survey. Smith retired from government service in 1944.

From the guide to the Alfred Hulse Brooks photographs and papers, 1892-1955, 1898-1924, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)