Pieter K. Roest

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Dr. Pieter K. Roest

Dr. Pieter Kornelis Roest was a Dutch-American sociologist who was an important lecturer in the Theosophical Society in America. As a member of General Douglas MacArthur's staff following World War II, he played in important role in writing the constitution of Japan and in arranging for the first postwar elections.

Early years and education

Pieter Roest was born October 17, 1898 in Vlaardingen, South Holland, in The Netherlands.[1][2] On July 11, 1918 he became a member of the Theosophical Society based in Adyar, India, in the Dutch Section.

He attended the University of Leyden Medical School and received his M.C. medical degree in 1920. After taking his degree,

"he was soon after invited by the National Student Forum of America to tour American colleges as a typical representative of the European youth Movement for Holland In a year's travel on this mission in this country Dr. Roest visited eighty of our colleges and then entered upon a course of special study at the University of Chicago where he took his Ph.D. degree "cum laude" in 1925. He then took up student work again and reciprocated his introduction to American by conducting about 100 American students on a European tour. Already a Theosophist since 1918 Dr. Roest on this tour met Dr. Besant and accepted her invitation to teach at the Brahmavidyashrama at Adyar." [3]

The title of his doctoral dissertation was "White Magic and its Theories."[4] That period in Chicago was eventful. In addition to completing his degree, traveling to Europe, and being offered a teaching position by Mrs. Besant, Roest became the father of a baby boy on June 13, and he also began writing articles for Theosophical and professional journals.

Teaching and academic research

Following a year in India teaching at Brahmavidyashrama, Dr. Roest traveled in Australia and Java. He conducted studies about the aboriginal peoples in those places, lectured, and published papers. His second son was born in 1929, in a location described broadly as "British East Indies."[5]. Roest accepted a position as instructor in social sciences department at the University of Toledo, in Ohio, for the academic year of September 15, 1930 to June 16, 1931. He was paid $2000 for the year.[6]

From Toledo the Roests went to Portland, Oregon, where he became an assistant professor of sociology at Reed College, teaching sociology, psychology and related topics. In 1933, after two years in Portland, Dr. Roest took a leave of absence to accept a position as Field Director of the Great America Plan. For three years he traveled many months of the year to re-invigorate branches of the American Theosophical Society that were depleted financially and energetically from the Great Depression and its social upheavals.[7]

Theosophical work

Dr.Roest was active in the Theosophical Society wherever he lived. He joined the Harmony Lodge in Toledo, the Portland Lodge, the National Lodge, and later the Ojai Valley Lodge. He was always much in demand as a speaker.

Department of Agriculture

During 1939 and 1940, Roest worked as a marketing specialist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture based in Salt Lake City, promoting a food stamp program that provided surplus food commodities to relief clients. [8][9]

Postwar work in Japan

Department of State

Personal life

Roest married three times, and became father to five sons. In the early 1920s, Roest married Neeltje ("Nell") Bloemendaal, who was born in his home town of Vlaardingen, Holland around 1900. In 1923, Pieter and Neeltje transferred their TS membership from the Dutch Section to the American Theosophical Society, joining Chicago's Akbar Lodge. When Pieter took a teaching position in India, they both transferred their membership to the Indian Section on April 31, 1927, then back to the American Section early in 1931.[10]

In mid-1949 Pieter and Neeltje divorced, and she moved to Ojai, California, along with the Miner family. Her sons were by then 24 and 20 years old. In Ojai, she taught preschool at the Monica Ros School. Previously (in 1947) she had been librarian in the Portland Lodge. [11] On December 17, 1955 she remarried, to Harold A. Kirk, another TSA member, and they lived in Ojai.[12]



Writings

Sociology

These are some examples of Dr. Roest's professional work:

  • "The Sun-Dance of the Plains Indians," undated class report.
  • "Balinese Religion." 1924.
  • "Study of the Italian Peasant: Part IV". Folklore. 1925.
  • "The Australian People: How a Visiting Scientist Sees Them, Their Virtues and Vices, Thoughtless and Pleasure Seeking." The Mercury [newspaper] Monday, March 26, 1928. [described as being written after 6 months of study]
  • Principal Concepts of South Asia: Transcript of a Talk Given at the Foreign Service Institute, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 1951. Washington: Dept. of State, Foreign Service Institute, 1951. 37 pages.
  • "The Aga Khan: Prince, Prophet and Sportsman". Middle East Journal 8.2 (Spring, 1954), 216-217.
  • The Constitutional System of Ceylon. U.S. Department of State, 1956.

He also contributed to Afghanistan: Its People, Its Society, Its Culture, Volume 11 of Yale University's Human Relation Area Files.[13]

Theosophy and Theosophical Society

Dr. Roest wrote quite a few articles for Theosophical journals, including a monthly column called "The Greater American Plan" in The American Theosophist. The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals lists 43 articles under the name Pieter K Roest, 8 articles under the name PK Roest, 1 as Pieter Kornelis Roest and 1 more as Dr. PK Roest.

Books and pamphlets included:

  • Glimpses of Anthropology: Abstracts of Lectures Delivered at the Brahmavidya Ashrama, Adyar, 1926-27. Madras, India: Brahmavidya Ashrama, 1927.
  • A Life View for Moderns, and Life, Death, Fate and Free Will: Two Lectures. Wheaton, IL Theosophical Press, 1938. 80 pages. Reviewed in The American Theosophist 27.5 (May, 1939), 120.
  • Occultism: True and False . Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Press, 1936. 13 pages.

Notes

  1. ↑ State of Washington Marriage Record. Reference Number: kingcoarchmc252628. Filed August 3, 1961.
  2. ↑ Social Security Death Index.
  3. ↑ "Dr. Pieter K. Roest – Field Director," The American Theosophist 21.9 (September 1933), 194, 212).
  4. ↑ Dissertation is available in the at https://libcat.uchicago.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=G3148I040853O.188148&profile=ucpublic&uri=link=3100006~!7678033~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=subtab13&menu=search&ri=1&source=~!horizon&term=Roest+Pieter+Kornelis&index=AUTHORP#focus University of Chicago Library].
  5. ↑ U. S. Census, 1940.
  6. ↑ Board of Directors minutes. University of Toledo University Archives. Per email from Barbara L. Floyd to Janet Kerschner on August 6, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Dr. Pieter K. Roest – Field Director," The American Theosophist 21.9 (September 1933), 194, 212).
  8. ↑ "Committee Appointed to Assist Food Stamp Plan," Ogden Standard Examiner (June 18, 1940), 7.
  9. ↑ "Random References," Ogden Standard Examiner (November 30, 1940), 2.
  10. ↑ Membership Records of Theosophical Society in America. Microfilm reel Yellow Series #6. Theosophical Society in America Archives.
  11. ↑ http://www.monicaros.org/about/about-monica-ros-the-person/in-her-own-words/ Monica Ros website.]
  12. ↑ California Marriage Index, 1949-1959.
  13. ↑ Donald N. Wilbur, editor, Afghanistan: Its People, Its Society, Its Culture, New Haven, CT: HRAF Press, 1962. Pieter K. Roest and three others contributed to this Volume 11 of the Human Relation Area Files at Yale University, also called the Survey of World Cultures. It was intended as an integrated study of the political, economic, and social affairs in Afghanistan, according to an extract available at JSTOR, which describes Dr. Roest as "an anthropologist and sociologist, formerly an area specialist in the U. S. Department of State.". The book is available at Hathitrust.
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