Maurice Graham Brooks (June 16, 1900 – January 10, 1993) was an American educator and naturalist whose name became synonymous with the
natural history of
Appalachia.[1]
Biography
Brooks was born on the family farm at
French Creek,
Upshur County, West Virginia, where he maintained a residence for much of the remainder of his life. His father — photographer and local historian Fred E. Brooks[2] — and three of his uncles were also professional naturalists or biologists. One uncle was
Albert Nelson Brooks (1897–1966),[3] surveyor and naturalist (and namesake of the
Brooks Bird Club).
In 1934, he joined the faculty of WVU as a professor in the Biology Department. In 1938, he moved to the Division of Forestry, where he taught courses in
wildlife management until his retirement in 1969.
The Pteridophytes of West Virginia, (1938); Series: West Virginia University Studies [4]
Check-list of West Virginia Birds, (1944); Bulletin: Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Home Economics, West Virginia University
"Notes on the Cheat Mountain salamander", (1948); Copeia 1948:239–244.
Effect of Black Walnut Trees and their Products on Other Vegetation (1951); Bulletin: Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, Forestry and Home Economics, West Virginia University
The Appalachians (1965); Series: The Naturalist's America, Illustrated by Lois Darling and Lo Brooks,
Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company
The Life of the Mountains (1968); Series: Our Living World of Nature,
McGraw-Hill
"Remarkable Dolly Sods" (1969–70), Outdoor West Virginia [Title changed to Wonderful West Virginia, 1970]; Nov 1969, pp 10–13; Jan 1970, pp 10–13; Feb 1970, pp 10–13.
^Fred's private collection of photographs greatly enhanced the book Images of America: Upshur County (2001).
^Brooks, Maurice (1965), The Appalachians (Series: The Naturalist's America), Illustrated by Lois Darling and Lo Brooks,
Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, p. 122.