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.

Organization:  Organized into 2 series:

• Series 1: Pauline Burdeshaw Writings and Correspondence, 1931 - 1965, 14 file folders.  Correspondence and diaries she kept on her travels plus miscellaneous writings and ephemera.
  
  
• Series 2: Photographs. Henry Beechum Burdeshaw, Pauline Budeshaw, and Rosilind Russell, c. 1918 - 1950. 
  • Subseries 2.1: Dr. H.B. [Henry Beechum] Burdeshaw, ca. 1915-1923 - Photographs, WWI ID card, 2 portraits.
  • Subseries 2.2: Oversized photographs, ca. 1920 - 1950 - Pauline Burdeshaw portraits and a presentation portrait of Rosilind Russell with Carl Brisson.

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

 

Series 1: Pauline Burdeshaw Writings and Correspondence, 1931 - 1965, 14 file folders.  Correspondence and diaries she kept on her travels plus miscellaneous writings and ephemera.

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/Philadelphia/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.

 

Series 2:  Photographs. Henry Beechum Burdeshaw, Pauline Budeshaw, and Rosilind Russell, c. 1918 - 1950.

Subseries 2.1: Dr. H.B. [Henry Beechum] Burdeshaw - Photographs, WWI ID card, 2 portraits, ca. 1915 - 1923.  In file 232-17-0602-002-015.

Subseries 2.2: Oversized photographs, ca. 1920 - 1950.  Pauline Burdeshaw portraits and a presentation portrait of Rosilind Russell with Carl Brisson.

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