A collection of letters from Clara Bradley Burdette to her son Roy B. Wheeler; Clara Bradley Burdette was a Southern California writer, and social, business, and philanthropic leader.

Clara Bradley Burdette (1855-1954) was born in East Bloomfield, New York, the daughter of Albert H. Bradley and Laura Colville Bradley; she attended Syracuse University, where she was one of the founding members of Alpha Phi Sorority and graduated in 1876. She first married Nathaniel Millman Wheeler, a professor of Greek literature in 1878, and they had one son, Roy Bradley Wheeler (1882-1923); they moved to California for Professor Wheeler's health, where he died in 1886. Burdette remained in Southern California and in 1890 married Colonel Presley C. Baker; he died in 1893. She married Robert Jones Burdette (1844-1914) in 1899, who was a humorist, writer, and lecturer; soon after their marriage, he was ordained as a Baptist minister, and they were founding members of Trinity Baptist Church in Los Angeles. Clara Burdette 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, and a strong supporter of Herbert Hoover. Burdette was a trustee of Syracuse University, Mills College, and a major backer of the Pasadena Maternity Hospital, and the Southwest Museum. She was also a supporter of women's suffrage and was an organizer of the National League of Women Voters. Clara Burdette's son, Roy Bradley Wheeler, attended Belmont School in California, and Harvard University; he married Helen A. Wheeler (1888-1970) in 1911 and they had several children before his death in 1923. Clara Burdette died in Los Angeles, aged 98, on January 6, 1954.

3.08 Linear Feet (7 boxes)

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