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Clara Bradley Burdette Papers: Finding Aid
mssBurdette papers  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Overview of the Collection
  • Access
  • Administrative Information
  • Biographical Note
  • Scope and Content
  • Indexing Terms

  • Overview of the Collection

    Title: Clara Bradley Burdette Papers
    Dates (inclusive): 1843-1954
    Collection Number: mssBurdette papers
    Creator: Burdette, Clara Bradley, 1855-1954.
    Extent: Approximately 50,000 pieces in 163 boxes.
    Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department
    1151 Oxford Road
    San Marino, California 91108
    Phone: (626) 405-2129
    Email: reference@huntington.org
    URL: http://www.huntington.org
    Abstract: This collection contains papers related to the life, activities, and family of Southern California social, business, and philanthropic leader Clara Bradley Burdette (1855-1954). It includes materials on various women's clubs and societies, especially the General Federation of Women's Clubs, California Federation of Women's Clubs, and Alpha Phi Sorority. There are also materials related to Mills College, Syracuse University, California College in China, the Southwest Museum, Trinity Baptist Church in Los Angeles, including manuscripts and sermons by Robert Jones Burdette, and the Republican party.
    Language: English.

    Access

    Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

    Administrative Information

    Publication Rights

    The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item]. Clara Bradley Burdette Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

    Provenance

    Gift of Florence A. Walker, 1955 and 1962.

    Biographical Note

    Clara Bradley Burdette (1855-1954) was a Southern California social, business, and philanthropic leader. She attended Syracuse University, where she was a founder of Alpha Phi Sorority in 1872. After the deaths of her first two husbands, Nathaniel Milman Wheeler and Col. Presley C. Baker, she married Robert Jones Burdette (1844-1914), a humorist and lecturer who moved to the ministry after his marriage to Clara in 1899. He founded the Trinity Baptist Church in Los Angeles, and Clara became a leader of women's societies and was founder and first president of the California Federation of Women's Clubs in 1900. She was active in Republican politics (particularly in Herbert Hoover's campaign for the presidency), and she was a trustee of Syracuse University, Mills College, California College in China, Pasadena Hospital, and the Southwest Museum.

    Scope and Content

    The collection consists of letters, manuscripts, diaries, documents, scrapbooks, and photographs related to the life, activities, and family of Clara Bradley Burdette.
    It includes materials on various women's clubs and societies, especially the General Federation of Women's Clubs, California Federation of Women's Clubs, and Alpha Phi Sorority.
    There are also materials related to Mills College, Syracuse University, California College in China, the Southwest Museum, Trinity Baptist Church in Los Angeles, including manuscripts and sermons by Robert Jones Burdette, and the Republican party.
    Significant persons represented in the collection include: Susan B. Anthony (5 pieces), Robert Jones Burdette (948), Harry Chandler (16), Herbert Hoover (37), Lou Henry Hoover (18), Carrie Jacobs-Bond (23), Melville De Lancy Landon (5), Charles Fletcher Lummis (65), John Steven McGroarty (10), Ralph Palmer Merritt (77), Harrison Gray Otis (25), Aurelia Henry Reinhardt (96), James Whitcomb Riley (23), and Caroline M. Seymour Severance (11).

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog.  

    Subjects

    Burdette, Clara Bradley, 1855-1954.
    Burdette, Clara Bradley, 1855-1954 -- Family.
    Burdette, Robert J. (Robert Jones), 1844-1914.
    Alpha Phi (Sorority)
    California College in China.
    California Federation of Women's Clubs.
    General Federation of Women's Clubs.
    Mills College.
    Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
    Southwest Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Syracuse University.
    Trinity Baptist Church (Los Angeles, Calif.)
    Women -- Societies and clubs -- California -- Los Angeles.
    Women civic leaders -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archives.
    Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- Sources.

    Forms/Genres

    Diaries -- California.
    Letters (correspondence) -- California.
    Personal papers -- California.
    Photographs -- California.
    Scrapbooks -- California.

    Alternate Authors

    Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906.
    Burdette, Robert J. (Robert Jones), 1844-1914.
    Chandler, Harry, 1864-1944.
    Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.
    Hoover, Lou Henry, 1874-1944.
    Jacobs-Bond, Carrie, 1862-1946.
    Landon, Melville D. (Melville De Lancey), 1839-1910.
    Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928.
    McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944.
    Merritt, Ralph Palmer, 1883-1963.
    Otis, Harrison Gray, 1837-1917.
    Reinhardt, Aurelia Henry, 1877-1948.
    Riley, James Whitcomb, 1849-1916.
    Severance, Caroline M. Seymour (Caroline Maria Seymour), 1820-1914.