Kenneth Bronstorph M. Crooks papers

Collection

Identifier: 108

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The papers of the Jamaican-born educator Kenneth Bronstorph M. Crooks include correspondence, photographs, writings, diaries, and various collected items. Materials reflect Crooks' upbringing in Jamaica, his work as headmaster of Happy Grove School, his efforts to gain financial assistance for Jamaicans to study in the United States, and his other work as an educator in the U.S., as well as his scientific research.

The collection contains approximately 725 items of which about 500 are correspondence, covering the years 1941-1974. Most of the correspondence is to or from Kenneth Crooks Sr., except for the letters from 1959-1974 to his children Nella, Sylvia, and Kenneth Jr. Correspondence centers on Crooks Sr.'s work as headmaster of Happy Grove School and as pastor of a Friends' meeting in Jamaica, his efforts to gain financial assistance for Jamaicans to study in the United States, his work as an educator in the United States, his scientific research, and his personal finances. Principal correspondents include Happy Grove co-workers Sadie Harrison, Fred M. Jones, and Gladys Jones; Crooks' wife, Nella; his successor at Happy Grove, Rudolph A. "Buller" Burke; Alonzo G. Moron, president of Hampton Institute; and Lucien H. Von Schilling, Crooks' banker at Hampton.

The collection also contains Crooks' diaries, which date from his student days in Jamaica. They reflect not only his educational development, but the social conditions of the different cultures in which he moved, Jamaican, American, Black, and White. Additional materials include biographical data, writings, photographs, Fort Valley College student papers, financial records, headmaster's reports, press clippings, and collected items. The photographs document Happy Grove graduations, a Harvard University 25th year reunion, and a soccer team Crooks founded in the 1930s.

Dates

Created: 1923-1974
Other: Date acquired: 07/01/1974

Creator

Crooks, Kenneth Bronstorph M., 1905-1959 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright to these papers has not been assigned to the Amistad Research Center. It is the responsibility of an author to secure permission for publication from the holder of the copyright to any material contained in this collection.

Biographical Note

Jamaican by birth, Kenneth Bronstorph M. Crooks (1905-1959) was educated in Jamaica and in the United States. He taught biology and zoology at Hampton Institute, Fort Valley College, and Grambling College, and served as the headmaster of Happy Grove Secondary School in Jamaica.

Kenneth Bronstorph M. Crooks was born to Japheth Answa and Jeannette Munro Crooks on May 5, 1905, and grew up in Hanover, Jamaica. After graduation from Jamaica College in Kingston, he went to Harvard University, from which he received A.B., A.M. and Ph.D. degrees. He was an All-American soccer center forward while at Harvard. He began his teaching career as instructor of biology at Hampton Institute in 1929. From a professorship at Hampton he returned to Jamaica in 1941, under an appointment from the American Friends Board of Missions. He served in Jamaica as headmaster of Happy Grove Secondary School until 1953, when he returned to the United States to become chairman of the department of zoology at Fort Valley College in Georgia. In 1957, he went to Louisiana's Grambling College as professor of biology, a position he held at the time of his death.

Crooks was preeminently a scholar and educator. His published writings, numbering about fifty items, reflect not only an interest in pure science and basic research, but also concern for the development and improvement of the teaching-learning process. He was also a devout Quaker. He married Nella Octiva Edgar in 1929. They became the parents of four children: Cynthia (b. 1929 June 1), Kenneth (b. 1931 September 12), Sylvia Amelia (b. 1933 November 19), and Nella Evadone (b. 1936 December 5). He passed away on January 20, 1959.

Extent

2.17 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Source of Acquisition

Nella Crooks

Method of Acquisition

Gift

Related Materials

The Amistad Research Center also houses the papers of Jamaican political leader, businessperson, and teacher Sir Harold Egbert Allan.

Separated Materials

Crooks, Nella Edgar. Biography of Kenneth Bronstorph Montalbert Crooks. S.l.: s.n., 1989

Crooks, Nella Edgar. Dormitory Living at Fort Valley State College in the Sixties to the Early Seventies. Fort Valley, GA: Department of English, Fort Valley State College, 1992.