Secondary Sources and Archival Collections that Focus on the Burleigh Family
This page includes secondary sources on the Burleigh family members that focus on them in a direct and sustained manner. Nearly every major study of the Abolition movement includes references to one or more members of the Burleigh family; this is especially true in biographies of people like William Lloyd Garrison, Samuel Joseph May, and other luminaries with whom they interacted. Resources such as these, however, are not included here because it would overwhelm the genuinely focused studies.
Please contact this project if you discover additional bibliographic resources.
On Charles Calistus Burleigh
Brown, Ira V., "An Antislavery Agent: C. C. Burleigh in Pennsylvania, 1836-1837," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 105: 1 (January 1981): 66-84.
Hochreiter, Robert Stephen. "The Pennsylvania Freeman, 1836-1854." Ph.D. Dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1980.
Myers, John L. “Antislavery Agents in Rhode Island, 1835-1837,” Rhode Island History 30:1 (Winter 1971): 21-31
Myers, John L. "Antislavery Agents in Connecticut, 1833-1838," Connecticut History 24 (March 1983): 1-28.
Rycenga, Jennifer, Nick Szydlowski, and Sharesly Rodriquez, The Unionist Unified. Digital Humanities project, launched May 2023. https://sjsu-library.github.io/unionist/
On William Henry Burleigh
Downing, Daniel F. Life and Works of William Henry Burleigh. Master's Thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Faculties of Political Science, Philosophy, and Pure Science of Columbia University. May 1938.
Myers, John L. "Antislavery Agents in Connecticut, 1833-1838," Connecticut History 24 (March 1983): 1-28.
Rycenga, Jennifer, Nick Szydlowski, and Sharesly Rodriquez, The Unionist Unified. Digital Humanities project, launched May 2023. https://sjsu-library.github.io/unionist/
Scott, Derek B., “The US Presidential Campaign Songster, 1840–1900.” Chapter in Cheap Print and Popular Song in the Nineteenth Century: A Cultural History of the Songster, edited by Paul Watt, Derek B. Scott, and Patrick Spedding, 73–90. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Accessed as a free-standing chapter online at White Rose Repository. William Burleigh discussed especially at 8-9 in online version.
John L. Myers
John L. Myers wrote a whole series of articles on the trials and trails of anti-slavery agents, especially in the 1830s. His scholarship constitutes one of the few previous attempts to understand the Burleigh family's signficance. Later in his career, he published extensively on Henry Wilson.
On Cyrus Moses Burleigh
Hochreiter, Robert Stephen. "The Pennsylvania Freeman, 1836-1854." Ph.D. Dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1980.
Shirk, Willis L., Jr., "Testing the Limits of Tolerance: Blacks and the Social Order in Columbia, Pennsylvania, 1800-1851," Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 60:1 (January 1993): 35-50. See especially pages 43-46.
Robert S. Hochreiter
Fr. Robert S. Hochreiter, soon-to-be Ph.D. in history from Pennsylvania State University, where he wrote his dissertation on The Pennsylvania Freeman newspaper
On George Shepard Burleigh
Spies, Minnie Lee, George Shepard Burleigh. Masters’ Thesis, Department of English, Brown University, 1934.
Minnie Lee Spies
Minnie Lee Spies, in her 1931 Yearbook picture when she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. She went on to graduate work at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, where she wrote a thesis on George Shepard Burleigh.
On Charles Calistus Burleigh, Jr.
no author given. Charles C. Burleigh, Jr. 1848-1882: A Memorial Exhibition, May 31-June 25 [1960]. Boston: Vose Galleries of Boston.
Knight, Margaret. "Charles C. Burleigh, Jr., 1848-1882." Senior Thesis, Smith College, 1947-48.
no author or editor given. "Charles C. Burleigh, Jr., Artist File: Study Photographs and Reproductions of Works of Art with Accompanying Documentation 1920-2000," file at the Frick Gallery Library
On Sydney Richmond Burleigh
Kirwin, Liza, Robert F. Brown, William McNaught, Sue Ann Kendall, Paul J. Karlstrom, and Stella Paul. “Regional Reports.” Archives of American Art Journal 25, no. 3 (1985): 31–40. Permalink (library access necessary). Annotation: This feature, "Regional Reports," s subdivided into national regions. The coverage that includes Sydney Richmond Burleigh is written by Robert F. Brown, and can be found primarily on pages 32-33. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1557391
Klyberg, Albert T. "Sydney Richmond Burleigh (1853-1931) - Inducted 2011," Rhode Island Hall of Fame Membership, two descriptive paragraphs.
On L.R. Burleigh
Reps, John W. Views and Viewmakers of Urban America: Lithographs of Towns and Cities in the United States and Canada, Notes on the Artists and Publishers, and a Union Catalog of Their Work, 1825-1925. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1984.
General
Burleigh, Charles (b. 1855 Maine), The Genealogy of the Burley or Burleigh Family of America. Portland, Maine: B. Thurston & Co., 1880.
MAJOR BURLEIGH ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS
There are currently a few major repositories that hold significant quantities of Burleigh primary sources, including artifacts and letters. These include
1. Historic Northampton - major donations directly from Burleigh family descendents, and from Ruth Wilbur, a former director of the museum, include many letters, daguerreotypes, photographs, artifacts, and art works, especially by Charles Calistus Burleigh Sr., Charles Calistus Burleigh Jr., Gertrude Kimber, and their descendants. 🌞co-sponsor🧡
2. John Hay Library, Brown University - George Shepard Burleigh organized his own papers, and they reside here. Includes most of his poems, prose, many letters, and some photographs. BruKnow Catalog entry
3. Little Compton Historical Society - Holds many items related to Sydney Richmond Burleigh, and his parents George and Ruth Burgess Burleigh. These include manuscripts, art works, and photographs. These materials were donated largely by Sarah Burleigh (widow of Sydney Richmond Burleigh) and Bessie Gray, one of the young girls who, even in old age, remembered George and Ruth Burleigh fondly. 🌞co-sponsor🧡
