United Lodge of Theosophists logo. A Theosophist and friend of Thayer, though perhaps only a minor Fortean.
William Dallas Tenbroeck was born 20 December 1922 in Los Angeles, California. That much I can say with some documentary backing. The rest of his life story comes from memorabilia maintained on the internet. It seems legitimate enough, but is hard—impossible—to verify. The Dutch Buddhist Katinka Hesselink has a letter from TenBroeck, dated 2001, that purports to give his biography. He says that his parents were William Davis Tenbroeck and Elizabeth Pearsall Tenbroeck. They were friends with B. P, Wadia, an Indian-born Theosophist and labor leader. Presumably, they met around 1919, when Wadia visited the United Lodge of Theosophists—and just as presumably, the elder Tenbroeck’s must have belonged to the lodge.
Some time around 1927, the Tenbroeck’s moved, via Paris, to Bombay, where William worked for the National City Bank of New York (later, Citibank). In 1929, they helped to form the Bombay branch of the United Lodge of Theosophists. In November of that year, Dallas—as he was called, to differentiate him from his father—was sent to Belgium to learn French. He was there until 1936, when he went back to Bombay, finished his schooling, then attended Bombay University as well as Elphinstone College and the Royal Institute of Science. He does not say if he graduated—it seems that his higher education was interrupted by the Quit India movement which, he says, closed all educational institutions in 1942.
So Dallas went into business. His father had purchased the International Book House, near the University of Bombay, and he took it over. He would have been about 20 at the time. Meanwhile, his sister Sophia worked with his mother on something called the East West School. Tenbroeck continued with the bookstore until 1961—two or three years after his father passed—when he sold out and started the East-West Press in New Delhi, which published textbooks. Dallas had married at some point, and in 1969 his wife’s health forced them to leave India and return to Los Angeles. She died in 1972, and he remarried in 1973. Tenbroeck wrote about the Theosophists Wadia and Robert Crosbie (who had founded the United Lodge of Theosophists), but these do not seem to have been widely circulated outside of Theosophical circles. In the late 1990s, he also became active on Theosophy message boards. Tenbroeck seems to have been very committed to defending the legacy of Theosophy’s founder, H. P. Blavatsky.
William Dallas Tenbroeck died 2 September 2006 in Calabasas, California.
*******
It is difficult to figure out how Tenbroeck became associated with the Fortean Society, though not necessarily with Fort. A large number of Theosophists subscribed to the Fortean Society, and there was some discussion of Fort in the Theosophical Press. Reckoning by the names in Doubt, he was a member of the Society no later than 1947; given that he had been in the bookselling business for some five years by then—a period marked by the World War—he may have come across references to the Society in some literary magazine, perhaps the Saturday Review of Literature, which made reference to the Society a number of times in the decade. If he had already known about Fort, these references may have prompted him to become a member. That first reference is not particularly enlightening. It appears in Doubt 19 (October 1947), but not in the long paragraph of credits for those who contributed material on flying saucers; rather it was in a shorter paragraph of credits to those who contributed articles on some other topic of Forteana.
Publisher’s Weekly reported that Tenbroeck visited New York in June 1948 to broaden his contacts with American publishers. Thayer was privy to this information, and was excited about it, which suggests that there was likely some correspondence between the two—Thayer, a veteran of the bookselling business, and a collector of books himself, cultivated friendships with many bookmen. According to Thayer’s report, printed in Doubt 21, June 1948, of the coming meeting, Tenbroeck was a dedicated Fortean and important member of the Society:
“Special Guest”
“A delegation of Forteans headed by MFS Shroyer is greeting and entertaining MFS Ten Broeck, of Bombay, India, who is in Los Angeles on a visit and on his way to New York. In Bombay, Ten Broeck is proprietor of the International Book House, where he sells THE BOOKS and DOUBT. He has contributed a unique and invaluable collection of Forteana to the archives. We look forward to his arrival in New York with a great deal of pleasure--and will report.”
He never did explain what the special collection of Forteana was, nor did he publicly report on the meeting—not following up on some item was about par for the course with Thayer, so nothing can be read into the absence. The next month, on 14 July 1948, he did write approvingly to Russell that Tenbroeck had visited, they had dinner at a Belgian restaurant, where there was a replica of the Mannekin Pis—the famous fountain statue of a boy peeing, which Thayer was then contemplating as a symbol for the Society: as though the Society were perpetually peeing on everything. He remarked, “It was all too appropriate.”
Tenbroeck remained connected to the Society for at least a few more years. In 1952, Thayer published the excerpt of a letter:
“Hi-Spots int he Mail” 138-39
“Bombay: 11-10-51: The moment of writing (old style undoubtedly) is yet a very Fortean one, Outside there are thousands of people looking up into the Western Sky. It is mid-day and the sun shines down blindingly (as usual, on the streets and buildings of Bombay). Since about 12 a.m. a star has been visible in the sky at about 60 degrees to the east and in the meridian of the Sun. It is probably Venus but others believe it is a comet. I can see something dimly but not clear enough to voice an opinion. Tomorrow the papers will probably carry an account and a ‘Scientific’ explanation of the Phenomenon. Many say it seems to have sunk more rapidly than the sun towards the western horizon . . . From MFS TenBroeck.
Thayer used Tenbroeck’s membership as proof of the Fortean Society’s worldwide reach. Crowing about the Fortean University in Doubt 19, he wrote, “That University is now in existence, and this is its first tentative syllabus and advertisement. Our campus is co-extensive with our student body, with playing fields in Bombay, in Switzerland, in South Africa and in Australia, as well as in all the more commonplace centers of population, the several British Isles, all the States called United and the provinces of Canada.” The Bombay was clearly a reference to Tenbroeck. He also likely picked up some data from Tenbroeck that was not fully credited. Thayer was no fan of English rule of India, but neither was he happy with that country’s religion or its leaders. (For a long time, he ran a filler “The Truth about India” that attacked the Indian political system.) And so he was disposed to report news from the Bombay Chronicle reporting India’s poor progress under independence.
It is less clear, from the available evidence, what Tenbroeck took from Fort or the Fortean Society. That he had a soft spot for Fort seems clear. As late as 1999, on Theosophical message boards, he was asking interlocutors if they had read Fort. But what, exactly, he derived from Fort is mysterious. Likely, he found the same kind of support in Fort other Theosophists did: that the world was wider and more complicated than conventional science allowed, making room for Theosophy’s alternative evolutionary understanding of human history and the transformations of the earth. But with the available evidence, this analysis of Tenbroeck can only be speculative.
William Dallas Tenbroeck was born 20 December 1922 in Los Angeles, California. That much I can say with some documentary backing. The rest of his life story comes from memorabilia maintained on the internet. It seems legitimate enough, but is hard—impossible—to verify. The Dutch Buddhist Katinka Hesselink has a letter from TenBroeck, dated 2001, that purports to give his biography. He says that his parents were William Davis Tenbroeck and Elizabeth Pearsall Tenbroeck. They were friends with B. P, Wadia, an Indian-born Theosophist and labor leader. Presumably, they met around 1919, when Wadia visited the United Lodge of Theosophists—and just as presumably, the elder Tenbroeck’s must have belonged to the lodge.
Some time around 1927, the Tenbroeck’s moved, via Paris, to Bombay, where William worked for the National City Bank of New York (later, Citibank). In 1929, they helped to form the Bombay branch of the United Lodge of Theosophists. In November of that year, Dallas—as he was called, to differentiate him from his father—was sent to Belgium to learn French. He was there until 1936, when he went back to Bombay, finished his schooling, then attended Bombay University as well as Elphinstone College and the Royal Institute of Science. He does not say if he graduated—it seems that his higher education was interrupted by the Quit India movement which, he says, closed all educational institutions in 1942.
So Dallas went into business. His father had purchased the International Book House, near the University of Bombay, and he took it over. He would have been about 20 at the time. Meanwhile, his sister Sophia worked with his mother on something called the East West School. Tenbroeck continued with the bookstore until 1961—two or three years after his father passed—when he sold out and started the East-West Press in New Delhi, which published textbooks. Dallas had married at some point, and in 1969 his wife’s health forced them to leave India and return to Los Angeles. She died in 1972, and he remarried in 1973. Tenbroeck wrote about the Theosophists Wadia and Robert Crosbie (who had founded the United Lodge of Theosophists), but these do not seem to have been widely circulated outside of Theosophical circles. In the late 1990s, he also became active on Theosophy message boards. Tenbroeck seems to have been very committed to defending the legacy of Theosophy’s founder, H. P. Blavatsky.
William Dallas Tenbroeck died 2 September 2006 in Calabasas, California.
*******
It is difficult to figure out how Tenbroeck became associated with the Fortean Society, though not necessarily with Fort. A large number of Theosophists subscribed to the Fortean Society, and there was some discussion of Fort in the Theosophical Press. Reckoning by the names in Doubt, he was a member of the Society no later than 1947; given that he had been in the bookselling business for some five years by then—a period marked by the World War—he may have come across references to the Society in some literary magazine, perhaps the Saturday Review of Literature, which made reference to the Society a number of times in the decade. If he had already known about Fort, these references may have prompted him to become a member. That first reference is not particularly enlightening. It appears in Doubt 19 (October 1947), but not in the long paragraph of credits for those who contributed material on flying saucers; rather it was in a shorter paragraph of credits to those who contributed articles on some other topic of Forteana.
Publisher’s Weekly reported that Tenbroeck visited New York in June 1948 to broaden his contacts with American publishers. Thayer was privy to this information, and was excited about it, which suggests that there was likely some correspondence between the two—Thayer, a veteran of the bookselling business, and a collector of books himself, cultivated friendships with many bookmen. According to Thayer’s report, printed in Doubt 21, June 1948, of the coming meeting, Tenbroeck was a dedicated Fortean and important member of the Society:
“Special Guest”
“A delegation of Forteans headed by MFS Shroyer is greeting and entertaining MFS Ten Broeck, of Bombay, India, who is in Los Angeles on a visit and on his way to New York. In Bombay, Ten Broeck is proprietor of the International Book House, where he sells THE BOOKS and DOUBT. He has contributed a unique and invaluable collection of Forteana to the archives. We look forward to his arrival in New York with a great deal of pleasure--and will report.”
He never did explain what the special collection of Forteana was, nor did he publicly report on the meeting—not following up on some item was about par for the course with Thayer, so nothing can be read into the absence. The next month, on 14 July 1948, he did write approvingly to Russell that Tenbroeck had visited, they had dinner at a Belgian restaurant, where there was a replica of the Mannekin Pis—the famous fountain statue of a boy peeing, which Thayer was then contemplating as a symbol for the Society: as though the Society were perpetually peeing on everything. He remarked, “It was all too appropriate.”
Tenbroeck remained connected to the Society for at least a few more years. In 1952, Thayer published the excerpt of a letter:
“Hi-Spots int he Mail” 138-39
“Bombay: 11-10-51: The moment of writing (old style undoubtedly) is yet a very Fortean one, Outside there are thousands of people looking up into the Western Sky. It is mid-day and the sun shines down blindingly (as usual, on the streets and buildings of Bombay). Since about 12 a.m. a star has been visible in the sky at about 60 degrees to the east and in the meridian of the Sun. It is probably Venus but others believe it is a comet. I can see something dimly but not clear enough to voice an opinion. Tomorrow the papers will probably carry an account and a ‘Scientific’ explanation of the Phenomenon. Many say it seems to have sunk more rapidly than the sun towards the western horizon . . . From MFS TenBroeck.
Thayer used Tenbroeck’s membership as proof of the Fortean Society’s worldwide reach. Crowing about the Fortean University in Doubt 19, he wrote, “That University is now in existence, and this is its first tentative syllabus and advertisement. Our campus is co-extensive with our student body, with playing fields in Bombay, in Switzerland, in South Africa and in Australia, as well as in all the more commonplace centers of population, the several British Isles, all the States called United and the provinces of Canada.” The Bombay was clearly a reference to Tenbroeck. He also likely picked up some data from Tenbroeck that was not fully credited. Thayer was no fan of English rule of India, but neither was he happy with that country’s religion or its leaders. (For a long time, he ran a filler “The Truth about India” that attacked the Indian political system.) And so he was disposed to report news from the Bombay Chronicle reporting India’s poor progress under independence.
It is less clear, from the available evidence, what Tenbroeck took from Fort or the Fortean Society. That he had a soft spot for Fort seems clear. As late as 1999, on Theosophical message boards, he was asking interlocutors if they had read Fort. But what, exactly, he derived from Fort is mysterious. Likely, he found the same kind of support in Fort other Theosophists did: that the world was wider and more complicated than conventional science allowed, making room for Theosophy’s alternative evolutionary understanding of human history and the transformations of the earth. But with the available evidence, this analysis of Tenbroeck can only be speculative.
