Creator: Brook, Thomas Brown (1890-1966)

Provenance Note: Photographs and miscellaneous papers created or collected by Thomas B. Brook were donated to Montana State University in several deposits during 1964, 1965, and 1966.

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 eventually 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.

Content Note: The photographs of Thomas Brook consist of nature landscapes and town views of southwest Montana and 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. 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.

Automated access: The photographs represented in the following inventory may be searched by means of an automated database. Subject and geographic terms were assigned according to the Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials, and the notes field for many of the first 388 images contains the exposure documentation made by Brook on the original negative glassine envelopes. To view the photograph collection, visit the online database.



Contents

Box 1
Folder 1. Prints 1-36
001, 004, 005, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011, 012, 013, 014, 016, 017, 018, 019, 020, 021, 022, 023, 025, 026, 027, 029, 030, 031, 032, 035, 036

Folder 2. Prints 42-117
042, 043, 044, 045, 048, 049, 050, 051, 053, 055, 056, 057, 058, 060, 064, 069, 071a, 072, 073, 076, 078a, 079, 080, 083, 087, 088, 089, 092, 093, 094, 096, 100a, 101, 103, 104, 107, 109, 111, 112, 113, 115, 117

Folder 3. Prints 125-169e
125, 126, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 151, 156, 156b, 159, 160, 162, 163, 165, 166b, 166a, 167d, 169d, 169c, 169b, 169a, 169e

Folder 4. Prints 173a-228c
169l, 173b, 173a, 174, 175, 176, 180, 181, 183, 184b, 184a, 185b, 186, 187a, 188, 189, 190b, 190a, 191, 192, 195, 196, 202, 204, 205a, 205b, 206, 207b, 207a, 211, 212b, 212a, 214, 220, 221, 223, 224c, 224b, 224a, 225c, 225b, 225a, 227, 228c, 228b, 228a

Folder 5. Prints 230-291
230f, 230e, 230d, 230c, 230b, 230a, 230, 232c, 232b, 232a, 233, 235b, 235a, 236, 237c, 237b, 237a, 238, 242b, 242a, 244, 246, 248, 249, 250, 254b, 254a, 255b, 255a, 256, 259, 261b, 261a, 261d, 263b, 263a, 267, 269, 274, 276, 277b, 277a, 278, 283, 291

Folder 6. Prints 301-388
301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 327, 328, 329, 340, 341, 342, 343, 346a, 349a, 357c, 357b, 357a, 365, 366b, 366a, 383d, 384c, 385c, 385b, 385a, 387b, 387c, 388

Box 2
Folder 1. Prints 389-412
389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 409b, 410, 410b, 411, 412

Folder 2. Prints 413-419
413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419

Folder 3. Prints 420-439
420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428b, 428c, 429, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439

Folder 4. Prints 440-470
440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 470

Folder 5. Prints 471-499
471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496, 497, 498, 499

Folder 6. Prints 500-530
500, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 511, 512, 513, 514, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519, 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527, 528, 529, 530

Folder 7. Prints 531-560
531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 536, 537, 538, 539, 540, 541, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550, 551, 552, 553, 554, 555, 556, 557, 558, 559, 560

Folder 8. Prints 561-580
561, 562, 563, 564, 565, 566, 567, 568, 569, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574, 575, 576, 577, 578, 579, 580

Box 3
Folder 1. Prints 581-600
581, 582, 583, 584, 585, 586, 587, 588, 589, 590, 591, 592, 593, 594, 595, 596, 597, 598, 599, 600

Folder 2. Prints 601-620
601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607, 608, 609, 610, 611, 612, 613, 614, 615, 616, 617, 618, 619, 620

Folder 3. Prints 621-643
621, 622, 623, 624, 625, 626, 627, 628, 629, 630, 631, 632, 633, 634, 635, 636, 637, 638, 639, 640, 641, 642, 643

Folder 4. Prints 644-670
644, 645, 646, 647, 648, 649, 650, 651, 652, 653, 654, 655, 656, 657, 658, 659, 660, 661, 662, 663, 664, 665, 666, 667, 668, 669, 670

Folder 5. Prints 671-685
671, 672, 673, 674, 675, 676, 677, 678, 679, 680, 681, 682, 683, 684, 685

Folder 6. Prints 686-704
686, 687, 688, 689, 690, 691, 692, 693, 694, 695, 696, 697, 698, 699, 700, 701, 702, 703, 704

Folder 7. Prints 705-749
705, 706, 707, 708, 709, 710, 711, 712, 713, 714, 715, 716, 717, 718, 719, 720, 721, 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727, 728, 729, 730, 731, 732, 733, 734, 735, 736, 737, 738, 739, 740, 741, 742, 743, 744, 745, 746, 747, 748, 749
Box 4
Folder 1. Prints 750-772
750, 751, 752, 753, 754, 755, 756, 757, 758, 759, 760, 761, 762, 763, 764, 765, 766, 767, 768, 769, 770, 771, 772

Folder 2. Prints 829-839
829, 830, 831, 832, 833, 834, 835, 836, 837, 839

Folder 3. Brook personal papers
Box 5
Negatives 001-150
Box 6
Negatives 151-230f
Box 7
Negatives 231-340
Box 8
Negatives 341-772
Box 9
Negatives 773-785
Box 10 Oversize prints
228b, 581, 244, 160, 012, 586, 083, 239, 830, 235, 035, 004

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