John E. Brush (1919-2007) and family lived in Piscataway, NJ before he and his wife Miriam moved to the Quaker-related retirement community of Medford Leas. Born on September 2, 1919, in Jefferson, PA, he grew up in India, where his parents served as Baptist missionaries in Kharagpur, Bengal.  John returned to the US after graduating from Woodstock School, in Mussoorie, in 1937.  He left Bucknell University to volunteer for earthquake relief sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee in Tuxpan, Jalisco, Mexico. After completing a B.A. from the University of Chicago (1942), he served in Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector (1943-46).  He earned an M.A. (1947) and a Ph.D (1952) in Geography from the University of Wisconsin.

A Professor Emeritus of Geography at Rutgers University, he served on the faculty for 35 years, including a number as department chair. With an interest born from his childhood experiences, he relished exploring the world, professionally and recreationally, through the lens of geography, and sharing with others what he knew and learned.  His particular love of cartography and maps began with mapping his boyhood hikes in the Himalayas. His research was concentrated in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and the cities of India, but his professional and personal interests took him across the United States and to Africa, the British Isles, China, France, Russia, and Scandinavia.  His research awards included a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship and several Senior Fellowships from the American Institute of Indian Studies for research in India (1965-66, 1973-74, and 1981-82).

When John retired, the map collection in the Rutgers Department of Geography was named in his honor. Below are links to a sample of the maps John created.


The Partition of Bengal-Religious Communities 1948 Burma Population Density 1931 India Climate Zones 1947
Rangoon, Burma Cropland/Fixed Rent 1948 Rangoon, Burma Cropland/Absentee Owner 1948 India Urban Population Change 1951-61
Physical Features of Southeast Asia 1955 Physical Features of South Asia 1965 India Iron Ore & Coal Deposits 1949
Political Divisions of Southeast Asia 1964 Political Divisions of East Asia 1968 India NE Manufacturing Region 1941
Political Divisions of South Asia (original artwork) Political Divisions of South Asia 1958 Political Divisions of South Asia 1960
Wisconsin Towns Land Use 1949 A Mineral Point, Wisconsin Land Use 1950 (b&w) Mineral Point, Wisconsin Land Use 1950 (color)
Wisconsin Towns Land Use 1949 B Mount Horeb, Wisconsin Land Use 1950 (b&w) Mount Horeb, Wisconsin Land Use 1950 (color)
Dodgeville, Wisconsin Land Utilization 1949 Richland Center Land Use 1949 (b&w) Richland Center Land Use 1949 (color)
New Jersey 1954 NE New Jersey Urban Population 1950 (b&w) NE New Jersey Urban Population 1950 (color)
Old Piscataway, NJ Township around 1850 Aerial Photos of New Brunswick and vicinity Print collection in the American Geographical Society Library
maps used for teaching-1 maps used for teaching-2 maps used for teaching-3

NY Yearly Meeting of Friends 1821 by Ricketson (from the JEB map library)