View XML QR Code

Thomas Brook photographs and papers, 1870-1960

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Brook, Thomas B. (Thomas Brown), 1890-1966
Title
Thomas Brook photographs and papers
Dates
1870-1960 (inclusive)
Quantity
2 linear feet, (4 boxes)
Collection Number
0771
Summary
Thomas Brown Brook (1890-1966) was the son of a Nevada City gold miner who came to Montana in 1863. His photographs include images of nature landscapes and town views of southwest Montana, particularly the Twin Bridges area of Madison and Beaverhead counties, that were taken by Brook or copied from others. Subjects include natural history, ranch and farming operations, bridges and bridge construction, schools and school groups, and early settlers of the Twin Bridges area.
Repository
Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
Return to Top

Historical Note

Thomas Brown Brook (1890-1966) was the son of a Nevada City gold miner who came to Montana in 1863. John Brook established a ranch on the Beaverhead River eight miles south of Twin Bridges, Montana in 1870. Thomas grew up on the ranch and attended local schools. He graduated from the Gallatin County High School in Bozeman and earned a degree in Civil Engineering from Montana State College in 1913. After working on a ranch and serving in France during World War I, Thomas Brook returned to Twin Bridges where he worked as an electrician. As a hobby, Brook began taking photographs of various locations in and around Twin Bridges, and eventually engaged in copying historical photographs brought to him by various individuals. Before his death in 1966, Brook had completed a substantial collection of both original and copied photographs.

Return to Top

Content Description

The photographs of Thomas Brook consist of nature landscapes and town views of southwest Montana, particularly in the Twin Bridges area of Madison and Beaverhead Counties. Subjects include natural history, ranch and farming operations, bridges and bridge construction, schools and school groups, and early settlers of the Twin Bridges area.

Return to Top

Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

[Creator Name], [Date of Creation], [Brief Description of Object], Folder [#], Box [#], [Collection Name], [Collection #], Montana State University (MSU) Library, Bozeman, MT

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Photographs and miscellaneous papers created or collected by Thomas B. Brook were donated to Montana State University in 1964, 1965, and 1966.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2008 August 11.

Brook organized the images by assigning sequential numbers for the first 388 photographs, but he often would group several negatives within a given number if they were similar exposures. Many of these early control numbers now bear alphabetic extensions to distinguish the separate images. Starting with image number 389, new control numbers were assigned by the processing archivist, observing a rough subject arrangement of the photographs as they were filed by the MSU library staff in 1966. Again some overlap was found amidst the negatives accompanying the prints, necessitating the assignment of alphabetic extensions for image numbers 409 and 410. Overall there are 1,057 individual images, represented by numbers 1-839. Not all prints are available, especially in the first 388, and most negatives for images numbered greater than 388 are missing. An important exception are the glass plate negatives (numbers 773-785) documenting the 1896 flood at Twin Bridges. The photographer of these images is unknown, and Brook left no clues as to how he came to own them. In some cases for images that lack a corresponding negative, duplicate prints were saved if they showed a difference in darkroom manipulation. For all the images in this collection the titles were provided by Brook either in either his negative index or on the print itself.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Bridges--Montana--Twin Bridges (Mont.)--Design and construction--Photographs
  • Bridges--Montana--Twin Bridges (Mont.)--Photographs
  • Buildings
  • Buildings--Montana
  • Cities and towns--Montana--Photographs
  • Farm life--Montana--Twin Bridges Region--Photographs
  • Floods--Montana--Twin Bridges (Mont.)--Photographs
  • Frontier and pioneer life--Montana--Twin Bridges Region--Photographs
  • Landscape photography--Montana--Twin Bridges Region
  • Natural history--Montana--Twin Bridges Region--Photographs
  • Photographers--Montana--Twin Bridges
  • Pioneers--Montana--Twin Bridges (Mont.)--Photographs
  • Ranching--Montana--Twin Bridges Region--Photographs
  • Schools--Montana--Twin Bridges Region--Photographs

Geographical Names

  • Beaverhead County (Mont.)--Photographs
  • Madison County (Mont.)--Photographs
  • Montana--Twin Bridges Region--Photographs

Kim Allen Scott, 2008; updated by Jodi Allison-Bunnell 2024; updated by Grace Fiacco
2025

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West

Loading...
Loading...