Guide to the Pauline Burdeshaw Papers, 1917-1975
Record Group 232
Extent: 25 file folders
Biographical Sketch: Pauline (nee Byrd) Burdeshaw was born July 27, 1897, in Enterprise, Alabama, and died December 29, 1982, in Dothan.
She attended Agnes Scott College in Atlanta and married Dr. Henry Beechum Burdeshaw (July 11, 1891-February 26, 1967), a Dothan physician who served as a major in the AEF during World War 1, on April 15, 1927.
From 1931 to ca. 1961, Ms. Burdeshaw traveled extensively, frequently alone and sometimes with her sister, Mildred Byrd Green. She kept extensive journals of these trips that convey her "high-society" lifestyle that included meeting or becoming friends with entertainment stars from Vaudeville and Hollywood, expensive tailored clothes, and lavish shopping in foreign ports.
She was a social leader among the Dothan elite as well.
Scope / Content Note: Full-sized and pocket ledgers, photographs, and letters documenting the life and three decades of extensive travel of Ms. Burdeshaw and, to a much lesser degree, Dr. Burdeshaw.
The ledgers in particular, provide a window into the world of high-society travel and lifestyle in the middle decades of the twentieth century.
Provenance: After Pauline Burdeshaw died, her friends Elaine Johnson and Dale Kennington purchased her ledgers at an estate sale (Johnson purchased the full-sized ledgers and photographs, Kennington purchased the pocket ledgers and Dr. Burdeshaw's AEF ID). Before Dale Kennington died in 2017, she gave the pocket journals and ID to Elaine Johnson, and as Ms. Johnson has begun to downsize, she gave the collection to the Wiregrass Archives. In addition, Johnson and a relative of Ms. Burdeshaw, Sue Byrd (wife of Dothan physician Ben Byrd and mother of Troy Dothan adjunct prof. Martha Norman), donated many of Ms. Burdeshaw's elegant dresses, gloves, hats, costume jewelry, and handbags to Southeast Alabama Community Theater (SEACT), but Johnson retrieved those items after many went missing. Some of these artifacts might become part of this collection.
Preferred Citations: Pauline Burdeshaw Papers, RG 232, Wiregrass Archives, Troy University Dothan Campus, Dothan, AL
Acquisition Method: Gift
Access/User Limits? Open per donor agreement, June 7, 2017
Proc Date: 1/9/2019 Processor: TB/DS
INVENTORY
|
File I.D. |
File Label |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
232 |
17-0602 |
001 |
001 |
|
Received Correspondence, 1933-1975 (bulk 1970-1975) |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
001 |
002 |
|
Diary, 1931-1936, 1940 Trips: New Orleans; California; Chicago World's Fair 1933; Asheville/Atlanta; Mexico City; Football Games; Western US; Mobile, AL; Havana/Miami; Montgomery; Hot Springs, AR; Biloxi; Ft. Benning, GA. Atlanta, 1940. |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
001 |
003 |
|
Diary, Europe, June-September 1937 |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
001 |
004 |
|
Diary, 1937-1942, 1944 Trips: Return from Europe; Rose Bowl 1937; West Indies; Western US; New York/Phila./DC (Pearl Harbor bombed); New Orleans; Hot Springs/Dallas; Atlanta/Carolinas. Montgomery, August 1944. |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
001 |
005 |
|
Diary, 1942-1945, November 1952 Trips: Chicago x 3; New York; Daytona Beach; Atlanta; New Orleans x 2. Miami 1952 |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
001 |
006 |
|
Diary, 1945-1948, 1953 Trips: Miami/Palm Beach x 2; DC/NYC; Chicago; Bermuda; NY/Canada/Chicago; Boston/NYC. NYC 1953 |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
001 |
007 |
|
Diary, 1948, 1950-1953 Trips: NYC 1948. Europe; Chicago/NYC; St. Louis/Milwaukee; Chicago; Panama Canal Zone. |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
001 |
008 |
|
Diary, June-October 1949, Trip to Europe |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
001 |
009 |
|
Diary, 1949, 1950, 1953 Trips: Hollywood, 1949; West Indies, 1950; Atlanta, Oct 1953 |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
001 |
|
Diary, Dec 1950; April -May 1951; Feb-March 1952. Trips: Houston; South America; Chicago |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
002 |
|
Diary: June-September 1951 |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
003 |
|
Diary: Europe, June-October 1952 |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
004 |
|
Diary, 1953 Birmingham; Africa/Holy Land/Coronation in London; Chicago |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
005 |
|
Diary, 1954, 1956 Trips: South America/Australia/Pacific Islands, 1954; DC/NYC 1954 and 1956; Chicago 1956 |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
006 |
|
Diary, 1955-1958 Trips: Canada; Chicago; Europe; Georgia; W. Virginia |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
007 |
|
Diary, June 1956 -- January 1957 Trips: Europe; New England; NYC |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
008 |
|
Diary, March 1959 -- May 1960 Trips: Europe; Visit from Cleo Bressons; Mobile, AL; Bankers' Convention Cruise, Apr-May 1960 |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
009 |
|
Diary, December 1960 -- March 1961 Trips: Chicago; Florida |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
010 |
|
Diary, May - August 1961 Trip: Mediterranean Cruise and Europe |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
011 |
|
Diary, October - November 1961 Trip: California |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
012 |
|
Diary, January - March 1962 Trip: Cruise around South America |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
013 |
|
Miscellaneous: personal writing/musings, unassigned notes, paper souvenirs & playbills |
|
232 |
17-0602 |
002 |
014 |
|
Burdeshaw, Dr. H. B. [Henry Beechum] - correspondence from Pauline, 1965 European trip. |
232-17-0602-002-015: Burdeshaw, Dr H.B. [Henry Beechum] - Photographs, WWI ID card, 2 portraits, ca. 1915 - 1923
232-17-0602-002-015-001: AEF Identification Card, Dr. H. B. Burdeshaw, 1918
232-17-0602-002-015-002: Dr. H. B. Burdeshaw portrait as 1st Lieutenant, AEF, ca. 1918.
232-17-0602-002-015-003:
Dr. H. B. Burdeshaw, portrait in civilian clothes, ca. 1915-1923.
232-17-0602-MD017-001: Oversized photographs, ca. 1920s
232-17-0602-MD017-001-001: Actress Rosalind Russell with her father-in-law, Danish singer and actor Carl Brisson (1893-1958), ca. 1944-1952. Presented to Pauline Burdeshaw by Ms. Russell.
232-17-0602-MD017-001-002:
Portrait of Pauline Byrd by Stanley Paulger Studios, Montgomery, AL. ca. 1915-1925.
232-17-0602-MD017-001-003:
Portrait of Pauline Byrd by Stanley Paulger Studios, Montgomery, AL. ca. 1915-1925.
232-17-0602-MD017-001-004:
Portrait of Pauline Byrd by The Schumacher Studio, Nashville, TN. ca. 1920-1927.
Contact Us
Wiregrass Archives
Troy University Dothan Campus
Everett 128
502 University Dr.
Dothan, AL 36303
Phone: 334-983-6556 x21327
Email: wiregrassarchives@troy.edu