East
Tennessee State University
University Archives
Box 70295
Johnson City, TN 37614-0138
E-mail:
archives@etsu.edu
Telephone: (423) 439-4338
INTRODUCTION
Title:
Christine Burleson Papers
Collection Number: Accession No. 146
Physical Description: 1 linear foot
Creator: Christine Burleson
Repository: University Archives, East Tennessee State University
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Provenance: The Christine Burleson Papers were
given to the Archives of Appalachia by Dr. Fred Borchuck on July 1982. They
were separated from the David Sinclair Burleson Collection. Additional material
was donated by Harold Burleson and Steve Preston, Milligan College Library,
on October 1, 2001.
Access:
The papers were opened for research October 1986.
Processing Information: J. Shelton completed processing the collection
in 1986. An addition was processed by Ned Irwin in 2001.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Christine
Burleson was born January 5, 1899 to David Sinclair and Mary Henley Dew Burleson
in Florence, Alabama. She came to Johnson City, Tennessee in September 1911
when her father, D. S. Burleson, accepted a teaching position at East Tennessee
State Normal School. She grew up on the campus and graduated from the Normal
High School in 1917. She graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1919
with an A.B. degree (magna cum laude). The following year she received a B.A.
degree from Vassar College.
After doing graduate work in philosophy and English at Columbia University,
she began teaching in 1921 at Kemper Hall, Kenosha, Wisconsin. She returned
in 1925 to teach at East Tennessee State College. In 1928, she entered Oxford
University and took honors in English and literature in 1931.
In 1932, she received a certificate in Italian from the University of Siena.
She served as Dean of Women and professor of English at Bethany College, West
Virginia from 1932-1936.
Burleson collaborated on two series of English texts with her father which resulted
in six texts published by Allyn and Bacon from 1936-1946. These texts have been
used in every state, Puerto Rico, Korea and the Philippines. In the midst of
this project, she received a M.A. degree from Oxford in 1939.
In 1946, Christine Burleson returned to teaching in the Department of English,
East Tennessee State College. She became a noted Shakespearean scholar, which
included continued attendance at the Shakespeare Festival, Antioch, Ohio. Upon
her retirement in 1967, she received the first annual Distinguished Faculty
Member Award. She died November 2, 1967.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
The Christine Burleson Papers consists of correspondence, clippings, photographs, class assignments and class rolls, student composition papers, notes, essays, university committee records, memoranda, and miscellaneous printed matter documenting the teaching career of Ms. Burleson at ETSU.
Organization: The collection is organized into two series: Series I, Subject Files, and Series II, Photographs, 1955 and undated. Both series are arranged in alphabetical order by subject name.
Important subjects covered in the collection includes:
Burleson, Christine, 1899-1967--Manuscripts
Burleson, David Sinclair, 1871-1953
East Tennessee State University--Faculty
SERIES DESCRIPTION
Series I, SUBJECT FILES,
1912-1961, Boxes 1-2.
Series I documents Ms. Burleson's career as a student at Vassar College
and as a professor of English at East Tennessee State University and includes
correspondence, class materials, student papers, committee records, and miscellaneous
printed matter related to these activities. The Series is arranged in alphabetical
order by subject.
Series II, PHOTOGRAPHS,
1955 and undated.
Series II consists of give black and white photographs depicting individuals
or scenes related to East Tennessee State University. Two oversized photographs
are housed in one folder in Small Photograph Collection Box 6. While the remaining
photographs are housed in one folder in Small Photograph Collection Box 7.
BOX AND
FOLDER LIST
Series
I, SUBJECT FILES, 1912-1961, Boxes 1-2.
Box 1
1. Adventure,
November 8, 1926
2. Alumni (ETSC), 1953-1954
3. Anniversary Committee, undated
4. Burleson, David Sinclair: In Memoriam, 1953
5. Campus parking permit, undated
6. Candidates for Degrees (ETSC), June 1, 1951
7. Centennial of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" address, 1955
8. Class Assignments, 1941-1943
9. Class examinations, 1943-1945
10. Class Rolls, 1947
11. Clippings, 1927 and undated
12. Coates, Frances S. book review, 1953
13. Commencement degrees, August 22, 1953
14. Committee on Entertainment, 1926
15. Correspondence, 1944-1953 and undated
16. The Dean Says, 1951
17. East Tennessee State College organizational cart, undated
18. Economics Clippings notebook (Vassar College), 1919-1920
Box 2
1. English
112 course, 1944
2. Faculty Committees, 1951-1953 and undated
3. Gilbreath, Sidney Gordon, 1961
4. Graduating Exercises, 1912
5. Hebrew Poetry Class, 1944
6. Honors Day, 1952-1959
7. Howze, Bennett Kelly, "Some Functional Uses of Puns in Hamlet"
(thesis), 1957
8. Lecture notes on language, undated
9. May Festival, 1953
10. Meet East Tennessee State, 1954
11. Memoranda to Teachers, 1946 and undated
12. The Mentor, October 1926
13. Miscellaneous, 1933-1953 and undated
14. Modern Poetry Class, 1945
15. Reading for Prize Award, 1927
16. Reading List for Short Story course, undated
17. Readings lists, undated
18. Sapphonian Society, 1926
19. School-Day Memories, c. 1917
20. "School Regulations" by Charles Johnson, undated
21. Sherrod, C. C. c. 1958
22. Siena, Italy, 1932
23. Student Activities Committee, 1925 and undated
24. Student Papers, 1947 and undated
25. Tennessee Federation of Women's Clubs, 1927
26. Treasure Trove, 1936
Series
II, PHOTOGRAPHS, 1955 and undated.
Folder 1 (Small Photograph Collection Box 6, oversize)
1. Sidney
G. Gilbreath and C. E. Mathes in front of Gilbreath Hall, ETSU, undated
2. Unidentified group, undated
Folder 2 (Small Photograph Collection Box 7)
1. Carter
Hall, ETSU, undated
2. Burgin Dossett, Sr., ETSU president, and Dean James Hoskins of the University
of Tennessee, Knoxville, undated
3. Dedication of Frank Fields' portrait, ETSU amphitheater. Photograph includes
Christine Burleson (far left) and President Burgin Dossett, Sr. (far right),
1955