University of Wyoming
Robert Burman (1926-2003) was a faculty member at the University of Wyoming for 33 years in the Colleges of Agriculture and Engineering; he retired in 1988. His teaching and research interest were in irrigation practices. Burman received his Bachelor of Science (1950) and Masters of Science (1959) degree in engineering from the University of Wyoming, and his PhD from Cornell University in 1968. Burman was also a registered Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor in the State of Wyoming, he remained active in engineering as a water rights consultant to the State of Wyoming and Denver, Colorado Water Board.
Burman traveled to Afghanistan for a six-week period during the summer of 1971 as an agricultural engineering consultant in connection with the University of Wyoming Afghanistan Contact AID/nesa-215. Under the aegis the University of Wyoming’s Faculty of Agriculture Project at Kabul University, he was to develop long-range relevant plans for irrigation studies on the UW Farm, establish a farm mechanics leadership option and refine course outlines and description within Kabul University’s agricultural engineering curriculum, and review the meteorological aspects of Afghanistan as it pertains to solar radiation and evapotranspiration studies. His work involved consulting with faculty of Agriculture and in the Engineering departments at Kabul University, plus the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation and officer of USAID/Kabul. While overseas, Burman also took an opportunity to visit Lebanon, Iran, Rome and India.
Collection contains color slides of Burman’s travels, mostly in Afghanistan, and color slides for conference presentations from 1977-1989. There are handwritten letters Burman wrote to his family. Some of the original letters have been kept by family members, but Burman’s wife, Mary Mortensen Burman, transcribed each letter he wrote; the transcriptions are included in the collection. The collection also includes postcards, photographs, an Afghan newspaper, guidebooks and etiquette books pertaining to Afghanistan, and Burman’s contract of employment for his work in Afghanistan. Also included are two 8mm films taken by Burman of his travels in Afghanistan, New Delhi, Beirut, Rome and Tehran.
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 Robert D. Burman at the date of processing.
This material was received from Mary M. Burman in October 2015.
The collection was processed by Jamie J. Greene in June 2016.
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.