1940Alfred Mansfield Brooks became president of the Cape Ann Historical Association and began collecting Fitz Henry Lane paintings.People and Communities, Arts and Culture, Local Organizations, Art

Brooks, a retired department head of Swarthmore College, succeeded the previous president of 10 years, Rev. Robert P. Doremus. The organization was known as the Cape Ann Scientific, Literary and Historical Association, founded in 1875, an outgrowth of the Gloucester Lyceum.