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Olive Woolley Burt papers, 1936-1980

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Burt, Olive Woolley, 1894-1981
Title
Olive Woolley Burt papers
Dates
1936-1980 (inclusive)
Quantity
37.25 linear feet
Collection Number
MS 0244
Summary
The Olive Woolley Burt papers (1936-1980) consist of manuscripts, research material, photographs, illustrations and correspondence of several of the books written for children by Burt during the years 1928-1980. The manuscript for her "American Murder Ballads and Their Stories," is included. Also among the papers are scrapbooks and other materials depicting her professional interests as a writer. Olive Burt was an author, newspaper feature writer, and teacher.
Repository
University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860

Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu
Access Restrictions

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Olive Frank Woolley Burt began her writing career at the age of eight when she sold her first poem to the San Francisco Chronicle for two dollars. Since that time she has published over fifty books and numerous articles. Her first book for children, Choice Recitations for the Grammar Grades, was published in 1928. She followed that with one or more books almost yearly to her most recent, Rescued! America's Endangered Wildlife on the Comeback Trail, published in 1980.

Olive Frank Woolley was born to Agnes Forsyth and Jed F. Woolley on May 26, 1894 in Ann Arbor, Michigan where her father was attending the University of Michigan. In 1897 the family returned to Salt Lake City, Utah which became Mrs. Burt 's permanent home. While growing up in Salt Lake City and attending Utah schools she developed a keen interest in writing. She assisted an older brother, the neighborhood school correspondent for the Salt Lake Tribune (as girls were not hired at that time), by writing articles and conducting interviews with visiting celebrities.

In 1913 Olive Woolley began teaching elementary school in Utah. During the next two years she taught in Garfield and Washington Counties while writing weekly columns for the local newspapers. She spent 1916 and 1917 teaching in Pennsylvania grade schools. She also found time to work on a college degree through correspondence courses with the University of Utah. Olive F. Woolley received her bachelor's degree in 1918, the same year she was awarded the fifty-dollar Maude Adams prize for the best one-act play by a college student. After receiving her degree Mrs. Burt began teaching high school English. She worked in schools in Pleasant Grove and American Fork, Utah, and in Star Valley, Wyoming. While in Wyoming she wrote columns for the Star Valley Record. Taking advantage of the summer break, Olive Woolley attended summer school at Columbia University in New York.

On June 7, 1922, when the school year had ended, Olive F. Woolley and Clinton Ray Burt were married. The couple first met in 1913 when the twenty-nine year old Burt, a native Pennsylvanian, was principal at the Garfield County school where Olive Woolley started work as a nineteen year old beginning teacher. Because most school districts refused to employ married teachers, the couple moved to Tooele County. An acute teacher shortage in this comparatively remote area made the requirements less discriminatory and Mrs. Burt taught in Ibapah between 1922 and 1927.

While teaching in Tooele County, Mrs. Burt continued writing and selling newspaper feature articles as a free-lance author to the Salt Lake City Deseret News. In 1927 she quit teaching to take a full-time position as children's feature editor for the Salt Lake Tribune. During the next fifteen years Mrs. Burt originated and conducted the "School News and Views" junior journalism program, which published articles by and for children. She was also director, between 1928 and 1937, of the Tribune sponsored "Knighthood of Youth" which, at its peak, had over 1,600 members. This group, which encouraged children to develop and display their writing talent, also published a weekly tabloid, The Tribune Junior.

Mrs. Burt acted as the Salt Lake Tribune librarian from 1942 to 1945 when she resigned to establish her own office as a "commercial writer" who performed services similar to those of a commercial artist. As well as conducting her own business from 1945 to 1947, Mrs. Burt was editor of the Utah Magazine.

In 1947 Mrs. Burt became a staff member of the Deseret News, a position she held until her retirement in 1957. She was editor of the newspaper 's magazine section and the junior news section, "The Newsette," for fifteen years. Between 1952 and 1957, Mrs. Burt was the Deseret News librarian. Following her retirement she continued to edit a daily column, "Remember When," until 1965.

During her years with the Deseret News Mrs. Burt taught a freshman level English course (1947) and an upper-division course in magazine writing (1948) at the University of Utah. The year following her retirement she taught adult classes in creative writing at Brigham Young University . She was also involved in community service such as organizing the "Shower of Books for a Town Without Books" for Bluff, Utah in 1950.

This project was so successful similar drives were conducted for Pleasant Valley and Navajo Mountin Indian School. Later, in 1961, Mrs. Burt headed a successful drive to obtain medical books for native Korean hospitals.

Even while working on the Tribune and the Deseret News and raising three children, Mrs. Burt continued to write juvenile literature. Her efforts were so well received that, in 1945, she was given the Louis Larsen Award for the outstanding Utah author. Her writing continued to receive recognition from local and national groups. In 1955 she received the Boy 's Clubs of America award for Camel Express and, in 1961, the Utah Fine Arts contest first-place award for a juvenile novel for, I Challenge the Dark Sea. Mrs. Burt has received numerous first place awards in the juvenile category from the National League of AmericanPen Women. In addition her one adult work, American Murder Ballads and Their Stories, the result of years of research and collecting, received the 1959 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.

Mrs. Burt has been actively involved with a number of professional organizations through her writing career. In 1936 she helped organize the Utah Chapter of the League of Western Writers and became its charter president. In 1940 when the Utah group withdrew to become the independent League of Utah Writers she continued to have an active role in the organization. She was also charter president of the Utah Chapter of the National Federation of Press Women, organized in 1956. Mrs. Burt was given their "Woman of Achievement" award in 1964, having also been nominated in 1962 and 1963.

Because of her keen interest in history through her juvenile historical biographies and novels Mrs. Burt was made a fellow in the Utah State Historical Society in 1964. She has also received recognition and awards from numerous other groups, including a "Service to Journalism" award from the University of Utah and Sigma Delta Chi in 1965, the National League of American Pen Women special award in 1966, and the 1967 Delta Kappa Gamma "Woman of the Year" award.

Burt died in Salt Lake City on 10 September 1981.

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Content Description

The Olive Woolley Burt papers consist of manuscripts, research material, photographs, illustrations and correspondence of several of the books written for children by Burt during the years 1928-1980. The manuscript for her "American Murder Ballads and Their Stories," is included. Also among the papers are scrapbooks and other materials depicting her professional interests as a writer.

This addendum (1947-1970) to the Olive Wooley Burt Papers contains correspondence, manuscript drafts, and research files associated with various books written by Burt. Also included are bound copies of the Deseret News Magazine (1948-1952) and the Newsette (1947-1952), a children's magazine associated with the Deseret News. These volumes contain original newsprint editions of the publications for the time period when Burt was editor.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library's Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Preferred Citation

Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The papers received at the University of Utah have been divided into four major categories. The first division, book manuscripts, is the largest, consisting of seven boxes. Mrs. Burt 's manuscripts are held in six boxes and arranged in chronological order by publication date. Each manuscript has related correspondence followed by partial or final drafts, portions of drafts, illustrative material, and research notes. Photographs which were related to a particular manuscript have been labeled and noted in the inventory before being removed to the Photograph Collection for proper storage and preservation.

The seventh box in this first division contains miscellaneous research material unrelated to the manuscripts donated by Mrs. Burt. One partially filled reel of microfilm related to the Bunker Hill Monument. Another gives information on camels which she probably used for her book Camel Express, a story about military use of camels in the American Southwest. A number of folders, arranged alphabetically by topic, contain drawings, sketches, maps, and magazine pictures possibly used as ideas or illustrative material for her books . Photographs found in these files were also remove to the Photograph Collection. The last folder in this box contains deeds of gift and inventory lists for the material Mrs. Burt donated to the University of Wyoming.

Materials related to Mrs. Burt's professional interests are contained in one box making up the second division. Included here are letters of inquiry from Mrs. Burt and answers providing information for her books. There are also files of letters from children arranged chronologically. Entries and lists of results of literary contests held by the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Utah State Institute of Fine Arts are also filed here. The remaining folders are taken up with information, bulletins and newspaper clippings about the professional organizations to which Mrs. Burt belongs, including the League of Utah Writers, the Utah Press Women, the National Federation of Press Women, and the National League of American Pen Women.

Four scrapbooks contained in two large boxes which comprise the third division, are also related to the professional writers organizations.

There are two scrapbooks from the League of Utah Writers dating from 1936 to 1979. The other two scrapbooks are composites of material from the National League of American Pen Women, the National Federation of Press Women and the Utah Press Women ranging from 1950 to 1980. There are also a number of clippings from 1929 about the "Knighthood of Youth" an organization sponsored by the Salt Lake Tribune which Mrs. Burt directed.

The addendum (1947-1970) to the Olive Wooley Burt Papers contains correspondence, manuscript drafts, and research files associated with various books written by Burt. Also included are bound copies of the Deseret News Magazine (1948-1952) and the Newsette (1947-1952), a children's magazine associated with the Deseret News. These volumes contain original newsprint editions of the publications for the time period when Burt was editor.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Olive Woolley Burt in 1979.

Addendum purchased from Sam Weller Bookstore in 1993.

Processing Note

Processed by Marlene Lewis in 1981.

Addendum processed by Karen Carver in 2002.

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Separated Materials

Photographs and audio-visual materials were transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collections.

Related Materials

Forms part of the Aileen H. Clyde 20th Century Women's Legacy Archives.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding aid prepared by Marlene Lewis.
1981 (Last modified: 2016)

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