Brower, Robert Weldon, 1921-2009

Biographical Information

Herbert E. Bolton

Herbert Eugene Bolton was born on the family farm in Wilton Township, Monroe County, Wisconsin on July 20, 1870. The family later moved to nearby Tomah. After teaching at various local rural schools, Bolton attended the State University of Wisconsin where he studied under historian Frederick Jackson Turner and received a Bachelor of Letters degree in 1895. He then attended the University of Pennsylvania, where - under the guidance of John Bach MacMaster - he received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in history in 1899. In 1901, Bolton became an instructor at the University of Texas and soon developed an interest in the history of the Spanish Southwest, an era which until then was little-studied by American historians. In 1909, Bolton accepted a position at Stanford University, but was soon lured to the University of California, Berkeley and its recently acquired library of Hubert Howe Bancroft. In 1911, Bolton began his professorship at Berkeley, where he would teach for the remainder of his career. Specializing in the history of Spanish colonial North America, Bolton became one of the most pioneering and distinguished American historians of his time. A prolific writer and field researcher, Bolton was also a devoted mentor to countless students, many of whom became prominent historians themselves. During his tenure at U.C. Berkeley, Bolton was Director of The Bancroft Library (1916-1940), Chairman of the Department of History (1919-1940), and Sather Professor of History (1931-1940). Bolton retired in 1944.

Bolton married Gertrude Janes in 1895. The Boltons had six daughters - Frances, Helen, Laura, Eugenie, Gertrude, and Jane - and a son, Herbert, Jr. Herbert E. Bolton died in Berkeley on January 30, 1953.

Marcus Brower

Marcus Theodore Brower was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1871. His family later moved to San Jose, California, where his father, Theodore Marcus Brower, established a print shop. After learning the print trade from his father, Marcus opened his own printing firm, Marcus Brower & Co., in San Francisco in 1912.

In 1898, Marcus married Gertrude Wilder, daughter of Alphonso Eli Wilder, one of the early founders of Los Gatos, California. Marcus and Gertrude had one child, Theodore Wilder Brower, born in 1900. Moving to Berkeley shortly before World War I, Marcus Brower lived there until his death on November 22, 1959.

Robert Weldon Brower

Robert Weldon ("Bob") Brower was born in Berkeley, California in 1921. The son of Laura Bolton Brower and Theodore Wilder Brower, Bob graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1943 and worked for the California Ink Company. He is now retired.