J.D. Brewster, Jr. Visual Materials
Collection
Identifier: VAM394
This collection contains photographs separated from the J.D. Brewster, Jr. Papers. There are images of college students, the Georgia Tech Football Team, and people at Georgia Tech Alumni Atlanta Club events.
(15 items)
None.
Permission to publish materials from this collection must be obtained from the Head of Archives and Special Collections.
0.1 Linear Feet
This collection contains photographs related to Jimmy Brewster's time at Tech and after, with the GT Alumni Atlanta Club. There are 2 copies of a black and white studio photograph of Jimmy Brewster as a college student and black and white photographs of groups of students from Georgia Tech and other universities. This collection also contains black and white photographs of the Georgia Tech football team including the 1915 and 1922 teams. There are also black and white photographs from an event which were originally labeled as being from the Atlanta Club.
Two Georgia Tech calendars (1922 and 1923) have been removed from this collection; duplicates of these items can be viewed in the Georgia Tech Calendars Visual Materials Collection VAC042.
James David "Jimmy" Brewster, Jr. was born in Newnan, Georgia, on January 9, 1902. His father was the Coweta County Sherriff, and his mother, Margaret, was a homemaker. Jimmy Brewster graduated from Newnan High School and entered the Georgia School (now Institute) of Technology in 1919, joining the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity. A talented multi-sport athlete, Brewster played basketball and ran track as well as becoming the star halfback on the football team. During his college years, Brewster was often seen in photographs on the front of the Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution's sports sections. His fancy footwork earned him the nickname "the Side-Stepping Wonder."
After graduating from Georgia Tech with a degree in Textile Engineering in 1923, Brewster moved back to Newnan to work on the family farm, but soon moved to Newark, New Jersey, when an opportunity to play professional football for the fledgling Newark Bears of the first American Football League arose. He played halfback for this team as well, mostly composed of former college football players from Georgia and Florida, but the team, and ultimately the league, folded the next year.
Moving back to Newnan, Brewster worked his family's farm for nearly the rest of his life. He also managed its pulpwood operations, with his only "break" coming in the form of World War II, during which he served as a Lieutenant in the United States military in North Africa, where he was wounded.
Brewster was a devout Methodist, and a member of Newnan's First United Methodist Church. He never married or had any children.
James D. Brewster, Jr. died on August 20, 1998, at the age of 96, at Newnan Hospital. The funeral was held a few days later, and he was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Newnan.
The photographs in this collection are divided into folders based on subject matter - students, football, and event photographs from the GT Alumni Atlanta Club. The folders are ordered based on the apparent age of the photographs. Three photographs are stored in oversized folders.
A print copy of this finding aid is available in the Georgia Tech Archives reading room.
Donations, 2002-2005 (accession numbers 2002.087, 2004.022, and 2005.034).
Manuscript material is processed separately as MS394.
(15 items)
April Martin and Mandi D. Johnson processed these visual materials in April 2013.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository