John Fiske Brown papers

Collection

Identifier: UA-10.3.327

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection contains the manuscript for "Keep Smiling Through the Grease: The Making of an Engineer in Mid-Twentieth Century America" by John Fiske Brown, an alumnus of Michigan State University (1953-1957), in which he writes about his life including his education and career. Also included are some family photographs and recipes.

Dates

Creation: circa 1989

Creator

Brown, John Fiske, 1927- (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from this collection must be obtained from John Fiske Brown.

Biographical Note

John Fiske Brown was born in 1927. He was drafted in to the U.S. Army in 1946-1947 and again in 1950-1952 when he served in Germany. He attended Michigan State University from 1952-1957 and received a B.S. degree in Engineering. He moved to California and worked for several aerospace industry companies which included working on a nozzle for the lunar descent engine. From 1966 to 1969 he attended graduate school at San Diego State University. In 1969 Brown became an Assistant Professor at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. In 1976 he took a sabbatical and worked for Vollmer Engineering and also Ship Systems, Inc. in Los Angeles, California. In 1978 Brown left Acadia University for a full time job at Ship Systems. In 1979 he started John Fiske Brown Associates, a Forensic Engineering company. Brown died in 2003.