Overview
Drafts of novels and screenplays; correspondence with book editors and publicists; publishing contracts; publicity materials; and other materials documenting Gabrielle Burton's work as a novelist and screenwriter.
Dates
- Creation: 1954-2015
Creator
- Burton, Gabrielle (Person)
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the materials created by Gabrielle C. Burton and Roger Burton is held by Burton Family Trust. Copyright in the materials created by Maria Burton is held by Maria Burton. Copyright in the materials held by Jennifer Burton is held by Jennifer Burton. Copyright in the materials created by Ursula Burton is held by Ursula Burton. Copyright in the materials held by Gabrielle C. Burton is held by Gabrielle C. Burton. Copyright in the materials created by Charity Burton is held by Charity Burton. Copyright in the materials created by Five Sisters Productions is held by Five Sisters LLC. Upon the deaths of any copyright holder, copyright will transfer to their heirs. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
2.5 linear feet ((6 file boxes) plus 1 folio folder, 2 folio+ folders, 1 photograph folder)The papers of Gabrielle Burton include drafts of novels and screenplays; correspondence with book editors and publicists; publishing contracts; publicity materials; and other materials documenting Burton's work as a novelist and screenwriter. Folder titles were created by Burton and arranged alphabetically by the archivist. Most of the photographs in this collection are or will be digitized and available online.
BIOGRAPHY
Novelist and screenwriter Gabrielle Diane Bridget Baker Burton, daughter of Clifford Baker and Helen Dailey Baker, was born February 21, 1939, in Lansing, Michigan. She received a BA in psychology from Marygrove College, the first in her family to go to college, then became a lay missionary in Barbados for a year teaching schoolchildren before settling in Washington, DC, as a teacher. She married jazz musician and psychology researcher Roger V. Burton and moved to Buffalo, New York, where they raised their five daughters: Maria, Jennifer, Ursula, Gabrielle, and Charity. An active feminist, Burton traveled with Gloria Steinem to discuss her experiences raising five daughters and gave talks with her husband about how gender equality improves family dynamics. In addition to newspaper, magazine, and online articles, she published four books, I'm Running Away from Home but I'm Not Allowed to Cross the Street: A Primer of Women's Liberation (1972), Heartbreak Hotel (1986, winner of the Maxwell Perkins Prize and selected by Dalkey Archive Press in 1999 for republication in perpetuity), Searching for Tamsen Donner (2009), and Impatient with Desire: The Lost Journal of Tamsen Donner (2010). In 1995, she received an MFA from the American Film Institute in Los Angles and was awarded the AFI's Mary Pickford Prize for top screenplay. She was awarded the Nicholl from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and the Austin Film Festival prize for best screenplay for Imperial Waltz, an intergenerational story about a Russian immigrant. She wrote the screenplay for the film Manna from Heaven (2002, MGM), which was produced by her daughters' film company Five Sisters Productions and theatrically distributed worldwide. Burton wrote the comedy short-form series Old Guy about ageism and appeared in it with her husband; it was released on IGTV after her death. Burton died of pancreatic cancer on September 3, 2015, in Venice, California.
Physical Location
Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession numbers: 2022-M151, 2023-M5
The papers of Gabrielle Burton were given to the Schlesinger Library by her daughters Maria, Jennifer, Ursula, Gabrielle, and Charity Burton, between August 2022 and January 2023.
Processing Information
Processed: October 2023
By: Johanna Carll
The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Creator
- Burton, Gabrielle (Person)
- Title
- Burton, Gabrielle. Papers of Gabrielle Burton, 1954-2015: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- Sponsor
- Processing of this collection was made possible by the Alice Jeannette Ward Fund.
- EAD ID
- sch02246
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.