University of Wyoming
Wilbur Swett Burbank (1898-1975) was a field geologist for the United States Geological Survey for 35 years. After earning a Master's degree from MIT in 1920, he did a geological survey of Haiti before joining the USGS in 1922. His work included studies of the Gulf of Maine, the Bearpaw Mountains of Montana, and the Michigan copper country. In 1926 he went to Colorado, where he spent most of his career working in the San Juan Mountains, the Bonanza mining district, and the Ouray-Silverton-Telluride mining district. Before and during World War II he was involved in searching for strategic minerals in the United States and abroad.
Gerald Francis Loughlin (1880-1946) was Burbank's father-in-law. He held a Ph. D. in Geology from Yale (1906) and taught at MIT from 1906-1912, when he joined the United States Geological Survey where he remained until his death in 1946. He did field work in the mining districts of Utah and Leadville, Colorado, before moving on to administrative positions at USGS headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he was Chief Geologist from 1935-1944.
The collection is chiefly papers of Wilbur S. Burbank, with some materials from Gerald F. Loughlin. There are ten boxes of Burbank's research notes and files; field notebooks through 1962; correspondence from 1929-1974; photographic negatives and glass plate negatives; photographs; maps; charts and diagrams. There is one box of Loughlin's research note cards (1905-1928) with accompanying thin section slides. There are also reprints and printed publications of the USGS, including some authored by Burbank and Loughlin.
There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.
There are no known other archival collections created by W. S. Burbank at the date of processing.
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
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