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recognized this difficulty, but followed the science, stating that the Derby, who restarted the Hartt survey in 1906, namely the Serviço
“… investigations of the gold mines of the State must prove a dis- Geológico e Mineralógico do Brasil [Geological and Mineralogical
appointment to many, and that they will excite the animosity of Survey of Brazil], which is still active today.
others, are foregone conclusions. Public welfare and official integ- Noted also as a linguist, in 1906, Branner published an elemen-
rity, however, alike demand that these results be made known” tary Brazilian geology book in Portuguese. In 1909, he published a
(Branner, 1888, p. XXXI). Animosity hardly describes the reac- massive bibliography of Brazilian geological publications, and, in
tion, for Branner holds the distinction of being a state geologist 1910, he brought out a Portuguese grammar book. All his geologi-
who was hanged and burned in effigy. Fortunately, Governor cal work came together when he published a new geologic map
Simon P. Hughes supported Branner. However, not all the news of Brazil in 1919. In the accompanying notes, Branner expressed
2
4
was bad, for Branner and his team discovered exploitable deposits his feeling for Brazil and its people: “… it [the map] is meant espe-
of bauxite and other materials. cially to be of service to the Brazilian people, among whom I have
In 1891, David Starr Jordan, founding president of Leland spent many years, to whom I am strongly attached, and in whose
Stanford Junior University, asked his friend to join him in welfare I am deeply interested” (Branner, 1919, p. 199).
California. In 1892, Branner resigned his other positions to become Branner and Susan D. Kennedy, a Vassar graduate, married in
Stanford’s first professor of geology. In 1894, a Miss Lou Henry 1883. They had a daughter and two sons, one of whom, George C.
attended one of Branner’s public lectures, “The Bones of the Earth,” Branner, became the state geologist of Arkansas when the survey
and this turned her toward geology. With Branner’s help and was reestablished in 1923. Branner, who died on 1 March 1922,
3
5
encouragement, she became the first female geology student at impacted the understanding of the geology in two countries.
Stanford, and there she met, and later married, another young geol- For Branner, “… the greatest honor of all is that which comes to
ogy student, Herbert Hoover, who eventually became president of one having … ‘…his students doing good and honest work in
the United States. Branner’s geological work included seismic stud- every quarter of the globe’ ” (quoted in Penrose 1924, p. 22).
ies after the 1906 California earthquake. The governor appointed
him to the State Earthquake Investigation Commission, and he FURTHER READING 6
became a charter member of the Seismological Society of America. Branner, J.C., 1888, Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas for
At Stanford, Branner served as vice president in 1899, and upon 1888, vol. i: Little Rock, Arkansas, Press Printing Company, I–XXXI, 320 p.
Jordan’s retirement in 1913, was the second president of Stanford Branner, J.C., 1913, Casper Branner of Virginia and His Descendants: Stanford,
University. He retired in 1915 and immediately went to the Panama California, Stanford University, privately printed, 469 p.
Canal Zone to investigate earthquakes and related landslides. Branner, J.C., 1919, Outlines of the geology of Brazil to accompany the geo-
logic map of Brazil: Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, v. 30,
no. 1, p. 189–338, https://doi.org/10.1130/GSAB-30-189.
BRAZIL PUBLICATIONS De Linde, H.S., and Howard, J.M., 1999, Arkansas State Geological Survey
Branner maintained a lifelong interest in Brazil, traveling in publications, a record of 140 years of public service, in Howard, J.M., ed.,
1899 to study the reefs along the coast of Pernambuco, a region Contributions to the Geology of Arkansas, Volume IV: Little Rock, Arkan-
he had worked with Hartt. In 1907, he investigated the diamond sas, 116 p.
districts in the State of Bahia and the geology of Sergipe and Jackle, F.R., 1967, John Casper Branner and Brazil [Ph.D. dissertation]: Ph.D.
Alagoas. Finally, in 1911, he examined the geology and biology Stanford, California, Stanford University, 310 p. (Dissertation Services
#67-11,038).
of the coastal areas around the mouth of the Amazon River. On Penrose, A.F., 1924, Memorial to John Casper Branner: Bulletin of the Geo-
these trips, Branner often worked with his classmate, Orville logical Society of America, v. 36, p. 15–44.

2 For the next 30 years, the Arkansas legislature, however, refused to fund an independent state geological survey. But more than 100 years later, no geological evidence
has been discovered to dispute the conclusions in that report (de Linde and Howard, 1999, p. 80).

3 See “Lou Henry Hoover (1874–1944): An Independent Woman of Action,” by Joanne Bourgeois, Michele Aldrich, and Léo F. Laporte; Rock Stars, GSA Today, Oct.
2021, p. 48–50.

4 https://library.stanford.edu/blogs/stanford-libraries-blog/2015/04/john-casper-branners-map-brazil-original-or-facsimile (accessed 23 July 2021).
5 https://www.geology.arkansas.gov/ags-history.html (accessed 23 July 2021).

6 For additional references, please contact the senior author, wbrice@pitt.edu; for Branner’s publications, see Penrose, 1924, p. 23–44, and Jackle, 1967, p. 273–297.

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