Burke E. Casari Papers, 1748-2013

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Creators:
Casari, Burke E. (Burke Eugene), 1935-.
Abstract:
This collection contains materials by and/or related to British explorer and writer Richard Burton (1821-1890) collected by Burke Casari (born 1935) including one manuscript by Burton and letters and documents by Burton, his wife, and friends. The collection also includes artwork, lithographs, maps, photographs, printed material and Burton related research material gathered by Casari.
Extent:
749 pieces; 10 boxes.
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of one manuscript by Richard F. Burton, and letters and documents, by, among others, Isabel Burton, Richard Burton, Verney Lovett Cameron, William Marcus Coghlan, J. A. Froude, Charles George Gordon, J. A. Grant, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Quentin Keynes, Alexander William Kinglake, David Livingstone, Mary Lovell, Victoria L. Maylor, Edwards H. Metcalf, Edward Henry Palmer, Bernadette Rivett, Stephen Tabachnick, John Hanning Speke, Henry M. Stanley, and William H. Wood. The collection also includes artwork, lithographs, maps, photographs, printed material and Burton related research material gathered by Burke Casari.

The papers consist of the following series:

1. Manuscript, Correspondence, Documents & Photographs (Boxes 1-2) are arranged alphabetically by author and subject. This series includes one manuscript by Richard Burton and letters and documents by, among others, Isabel Burton, Richard Burton, Verney Lovett Cameron, J. A. Froude, Charles George Gordon, J. A. Grant, Joseph Dalton Hooker, Alexander William Kinglake, David Livingstone, Victoria L. Maylor, Edward Henry Palmer, John Hanning Speke and Henry M. Stanley. This series also includes photographs of Isabel Burton, Emin Pasha, Richard Monckton Milnes (Baron Houghton) and David Livingstone.

2. Oversize Correspondence, Etching, Lithographs, Maps & Printed Material (Box 3) is arranged alphabetically by author and subject. This series includes correspondence between William Marcus Coghlan and Peter M. Melvill, Frederick Leighton’s portrait of Burton, Vanity Fair lithographs, as well as maps of Africa, India and Sierra Leone dating from 1748-1880. This series also includes various Burton-related pages from the Illustrated London News.

3. Research Material (Box 4 - Red Slip Case). This series includes original published pages from The Athenæum, with articles by and about Richard Burton; including reviews of his publications and contributions by Burton, (1852-1906), 362 pages.

4. Research Material (Boxes 5-7) is arranged by subject and format. This material was collected by Burke Casari during his Burton research; it includes correspondence, printed material, photocopies of Burton articles and manuscripts, prints of Burton images, modern photos, research notes and clippings. The correspondence includes, among others, Quentin Keynes, Mary S. Lovell, Edward H. Metcalf, Bernadette Rivett and Stephen E. Tabachnick.

5. Kama Sutra (Box 8). Bound volume of a manuscript copy by an unknown author.

6. Correspondence and Research Material (Box 9) is arranged alphabetically by author. This series includes letters from Isabel Burton and Richard Burton to William Martin Wood and his wife, Mrs. William Martin Wood. This correspondence was removed from the Album now cataloged as Box 10. This series also includes research material collected by Burke Casari in support of his acquisition of the Kama Sutra and the album of correspondence; it includes email, photocopies and autograph notes.

7. Album (Box 10). Leather album and box; originally contained Burton and Wood correspondence.

Biographical / historical:

Burke Eugene Casari, a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, worked as an administrator for environmental programs at the State Health Department. He became interested in Richard Burton in 1962, while teaching in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Casari has since become a noted Burton collector and researcher, especially in the area of identifying previously undocumented Burton letters, articles and references.

Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) was a British explorer, linguist, writer, diplomat and translator; he explored Africa, the Middle East, South America and Iceland and translated, among many other titles, The Arabian Nights. Burton married Isabel Arundell (1831-1896), in 1861, and she, thereafter, accompanied Burton on many of his travels, and became his amanuensis and editor, as well as publishing her own travel volumes and an autobiography. Burton died of a heart attack on Oct. 19, 1890 and Isabel Burton died from complications of ovarian cancer on March 22, 1896.

William Martin Wood (1829-1907)was a British journalist; the editor of the Times of India and the Bombay Review, upon his retirement to England, Wood continued to write on Indian topics and published Things of India Made Plain.

Acquisition information:
Gifts of Burke E. Casari, Dec. 2011 and Apr. 2013.
Arrangement:

Organized in the following manner:

  • 1. Manuscript, Correspondence, Documents and Photographs (Boxes 1-2)
  • 2. Oversize Correspondence, Etching, Lithographs, Maps and Printed Material (Box 3)
  • 3. Research Material (Boxes 4-7)
  • 4. Kama Sutra (Box 8)
  • 5. Correspondence and Research Material (Box 9)
  • 6. Album (Box 10)

Items arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

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

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Website