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Earning B.A. and Master’s degrees at Harvard in the fine arts, Brooks also studied at the School of Architecture and Planning (an offshoot of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in 1894 and 1895. Brooks became a professor of art in Indiana State University. It was then that he met his future wife, Ruth Bryce Steele. They were married in 1910.

In 1922, Brooks was appointed professor of fine arts at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Upon his retirement in 1937, he and Ruth moved back to Gloucester and into the Brick House at 21 Middle Street. It was then that he began his second career as an observer and historian of Cape Ann and his stewardship of the Cape Ann Historical Association.

The Alfred Mansfield Brooks and Ruth Steele Brooks papers were left to the Cape Ann Historical Association during his tenure as a curator and President of the Association. They include material from his career as a professor of fine arts and, upon retirement, his extensive involvement with the City of Gloucester.

Read the finding aid here.