William Penn Brooks (November 19, 1851 – March 8, 1938) was an American

agricultural scientist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the U ...

, who worked as a foreign advisor in

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

during the colonization project for

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

. He was the eighth president of the

Massachusetts Agricultural College The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a Public university, public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricu ...

. Brooks is remembered as one of six Founders of

Phi Sigma Kappa Phi Sigma Kappa (), colloquially known as Phi Sig or PSK, is a men's social and academic fraternity with approximately 74 active chapters and provisional chapters in North America. Most of its first two dozen chapters were granted to schools in ...

fraternity in 1873.

Biography

Early life

Brooks was born in South Scituate, Massachusetts,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to Nathaniel Brooks and Rebecca Partridge (Cushing), the tenth of a family of eleven children, and born when his father was well past fifty. His father's ancestors came to North America in 1635, and his mother's belonged to the Cushings of England. He had studied in the public schools, at Assinippi Institute and at the Hanover Academy. He taught school in Hanover and Rockland, then entered college at the beginning of the third term of his freshman year. William Penn Brooks, a Founder of Phi Sigma Kappa

William Penn Brooks, a Founder of Phi Sigma Kappa

Collegiate activities

Brooks' collegiate activities are notable because of his role in founding

fraternity along with five fellow students. While at "Aggie," Brooks was a member of the Washington Irving Literary Society, a popular pastime among the undergraduates. He was a member of the Gymnastic Association, held the military rank of captain in the College's Battalion, and was an editor of the 1875 version of the college yearbook. His peers honored Brooks by election as permanent historian of the class. He was valedictorian of the

class of 1875, where he had specialized in

agricultural chemistry Agricultural chemistry is the study of chemistry, especially organic chemistry and biochemistry, as they relate to agriculture—agricultural production, the processing of raw products into foods and beverages, and environmental monitoring and r ...

. Yet among all these, it was his role as a Founder of

fraternity in his Sophomore year by which his name is best remembered today.

Early career in Japan

After a year of graduate study, Brooks was hired as a teacher for

Sapporo Agricultural College was a school in Sapporo, Hokkaidō established in September 1875 for the purpose of educating students in the agriculture industry. History The first president of the college was Zusho Hirotake. Dr. William Smith Clark, a graduate of Amhers ...

(SAC), in Japan, whose head teacher at that time was Brooks' former professor,

William Smith Clark William Smith Clark (July 31, 1826 – March 9, 1886) was an American professor of chemistry, botany and zoology, a colonel during the American Civil War, and a leader in agricultural education. Raised and schooled in Easthampton, Massachuset ...

. Brooks arrived in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

in January 1877, shortly before Clark left the school and only a few months before the Japanese government crushed the

Satsuma rebellion The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and beca ...

, the last opposition to its policy of modernization. Immediately after his arrival, he began to deliver lectures on agricultural science and took charge of the directorship of the experimental fields. Brooks worked at the Sapporo Agricultural School for twelve years, four of which he served as the college president. Along with his teaching, Brooks made a great number of contributions as an agricultural advisor, identifying profitable crops for the northern Japanese climate and teaching courses in botany and agricultural science. He is credited with the introduction of onions, corn, beans, forage and other plants to Hokkaidō. Brooks stressed both the theoretical and practical in his classes. Students were assigned six hours of field work a week and paid by the hour. Brooks also contributed much to the English education. He conducted the three kinds of English classes, "English" including "Composition" and "Elocution," "Debate," and "Declamation" from 1877 to 1886. His instruction, with diligence and leadership, was intended to qualify students to write and speak English correctly and effectively; focused on the essential points, less encumbered with irrelevant matter; and improved students greatly, giving both more ability and confidence in the expression of ideas. In 1882, Brooks traveled home on leave and married. His wife, Eva Bancroft Hall Brooks went after him to live in Sapporo until his contract expired in 1888. During this time they had two children, Rachel Bancroft Brooks and Sumner Cushing Brooks (also to become a Phi Sig, ''Alpha, 1910''), who later married noted American biologist

Matilda Moldenhauer Brooks Matilda Moldenhauer Brooks (1888–1981) was a cellular biologist best known for her 1932 discovery that the staining compound methylene blue is an antidote to carbon monoxide and cyanide poisoning. She held a PhD in zoology and spent her prof ...

Back to Amherst, by way of Germany

Brooks returned to the United States in October 1888 after having received the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

(4th class) from

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

, and accepted a position at Massachusetts Agricultural College as a lecturer, and for two years, as president (1905–06). Brooks continued graduate study at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where he earned his doctorate. Continuing as a lecturer at Massachusetts Agricultural, he became the director of the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station until his retirement in 1921, where he is remembered for introducing Japanese cultivars, including several Japanese varieties of

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses. Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu an ...

and

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets al ...

. In 1920, Brooks received an honorary doctorate from the Minister of Education in Japan. Old North College, at the University of Massachusetts, site of Phi Sigma Kappa founding, circa 1923, sm

Old North College, at the University of Massachusetts, site of Phi Sigma Kappa founding, circa 1923, sm

Retirement

Brooks made his retirement home in Amherst. Brooks had maintained correspondence with, and occasional activity with his collegiate fraternity for his entire life. In 1893, at the twenty-year anniversary of the founding, Brooks was appointed a committee of one to prepare an updated constitution for the order, which was adopted unanimously. It settled a long-simmering debate on the emerging structure of the national organization. In 1902 he participated in the induction of the Fraternity's new ''Omicron'' chapter at

M.I.T. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

Brooks continued to attend occasional meetings and lend his voice to policy debates during his older years. With Founder

Campbell Campbell may refer to: People Surname * Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell Given name * Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer * Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...

, Brooks made a pilgrimage to Old North Hall on May 12, 1923 for the dedication of "The Shrine," a plaque honoring the fraternity that was dedicated on the wall of that building which was a classroom and dormitory where the now thriving Order had been founded 50 years prior. (Old North was razed for the construction of Machmer Hall in 1957, and The Shrine was moved to the entrance of the new building.) The two followed up this appearance by joining the 1926 Convention in Philadelphia, and to the surprise and joy of many, they both traveled nearly 3,000 miles to the 1928 San Francisco Convention of the Fraternity., pages 98-100. After his first wife died (1924) he married Grace L. Holden in 1927 at the age of seventy-six. Brooks died at the age of 86 in

Amherst, Massachusetts Amherst () is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2020 census, the population was 39,263, making it the highest populated municipality in Hampshire County (althoug ...

in 1938.William Penn Brooks Papers, Special Collections & University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, Univ. of Massachusetts at Amherst. Available at http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/digital/brooks.htm He had been the sole surviving Founder since the death of Campbell nine years earlier. The Brooks House, a dormitory on the UMass campus, built in 1948, was named in his honor.

Selected works

"Conditions Affecting the Strength of the Stomach of the Calf for Rennet"
Hatch Experiment Station Bulletin No. 11 (1891)
"Soil Tests with Fertilizers for Corn"
Hatch Experiment Station Bulletin No. 14 (1891)
"Soil Tests with Fertilizers for Potatoes, Oats and Corn"
Hatch Experiment Station Bulletin No. 18 (1892)
"How to Keep Up the Fertility of Our Farms"
Forty-Second Annual Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture (1895)
"Experiment Station Accuracy"
correspondence with Andrew H. Ward (1899) *"Agriculture" (1901) :
"Soils, Formation"
Volume I :
"Manures, Fertilizers & Farm Crops"
Volume II :
"Animal Husbandry"
Volume III
"Drainage"
Fifty-Sixth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture (1908)
"Poultry Farming for Women"
from Vocations for the Trained Woman (1910)
"The Hay Crop in Massachusetts"
"Grasses and Forage Crops", Massachusetts Agricultural Bulletin No. 3 (1915)
"The Management of Mowings"
"Grasses and Forage Crops", Massachusetts Agricultural Bulletin No. 3 (1915)
"Clovers: Their Value, Characteristics of Varieties and Methods of Production
"Grasses and Forage Crops", Massachusetts Agricultural Bulletin No. 3 (1915)
"A Fertilizer Experiment with Asparagus"
coauthored F. W. Morse, Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin No. 194 (1919)
"Methods of Applying Manure"
Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin No. 196 (1920)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, William Penn 1851 births 1938 deaths American agronomists Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-period Japan Massachusetts Agricultural College alumni Leaders of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Phi Sigma Kappa founders American expatriates in Japan Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class