Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1792-1984 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
146pp
Context area
Archival history
Kerby A. Miller created his transcripts of the Burns letters from transcripts and photocopies donated to him for publishing purposes via letter of 23 October 1978 by Professor James F. Burns of the University of Florida. The original manuscripts remained with the Burns family.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Materials pertaining to the Burns letters, a set of 19 letters written between 1792 and 1827 by members of the Burns family to and from their relatives in the United States. The Burns were a Presbyterian family from Brackly, Kilclooney parish, County Armagh who had emigrated from Ayrshire, Scotland to Armagh in 1742. James Snr and Jane Burns were the parents of emigrants Alexander and James Jnr; the former of whom settled in Pennsylvania; the latter in Pennsylvania and then Ohio.
The series includes: biographical notes on the Burns family, newspaper articles written by letter donor Professor James F. Burns about the family and Irish-Americans; correspondence between Burns and Kerby A. Miller providing further family information; transcripts and reproduction of the Burns letters created by James F. Burns; and a spiral-bound copy of Burns' self-published family history Search for the Past (Gainesville, Florida, 1978, 80pp).