Thomas "Tommy" Brooks

Thomas Brooks was a student at the college from fall of 1939 to spring of 1942 when he was drafted. He focused on Sociology, with a love for political theory and economics. His application shared that he was interested in teaching and wanted to learn about progressive education methods.

While a student, he participated in many plays, including Waiting for Lefty, Le Medecin, Ah, Wilderness, and Highbrow Ladies.

While in the Army, he was stationed with fellow student, John Stix. He regularly wrote back to the college bulletins and a few excerpts are listed below. There are many more available online.

Asheville Art Museum collection

Writings about Tommy can be seen in digitized college bulletins on Asheville Art Museum's collection website: collection.ashevilleart.org. They can be found by searching these accession numbers:

2017.40.071 April 20, 1942 bulletin, "2 Betty Brett, Tommy Brooks, Sam Brown, Sue Noble, and Frances de Graaff left yesterday morning for Nashville, Tennessee, to attend the Southern Conference on Human Welfare. They will return to the college Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning."

2017.40.113 July 5, 1943 bulletin, "Lieutenant Thomas Brooks left Fort Knox, Kentucky on Saturday for a ten day vacation. He writes, in part: “At the end of that time I will report to Camp Campbell, Kentucky…. Since I finished O.C.S., I have been going through three weeks of tank work as a tank commander on both light and medium tanks and I have just finished a week as platoon leader of a reconnaissance platoon as it went through its paces. The tank course is about the hardest in the country and it is progressively as hard on the tank crews. While on these problems we have bivouaced at night, and I almost feel as though I’ve had my fill of sleeping on the cold, cold ground.”—Tommy’s new address will be given in a subsequent issue of the Bulletin."

2017.40.150 April 3, 1944 bulletin, "Lieutenant Thomas Brooks writes from England on March 21: “E.T.O. Headquarters and German firepower determine the length of my stay here, but as long as I’m at this post, I have an historic spot to explore. We cannot give definition location, but it is permissible to say that Bath is frequented by men on pass.”

Courses Taken

Fall term 1939-40: Economics (G Barnes), ModernEuropean History (W CBarnes), Writing (Wunsch), Reading in Literature (Kurtz)

Spring term 1939-40: Readings in Literature (Kurtz), Economics (G Barnes),Modern European History (W C Barnes), Introductory Writing (Wunsch), PlayProduction (Wunsch)

Fall term 1940-41: Introductory Spanish (Mangold), 19th Century English Essay(Kurtz), General Biology (Carpenter), Advanced Economics (Gothe)

Spring term 1940-41: 19th Century English Poetry (Kurtz), General Biology(Carpenter), Play Production II (Wunsch)

Fall term 1941-42: General Anthropology (Radin), Introductory Psychology(French), Music I (Evarts), Political Theory (Babcock)

Spring term 1941-42: Economics Tutorial (Boyden), Introductory Psychology(French), Political Theory (Babcock), Dramatics II (Wunsch)