Thomas G. Burton Collection, 1967-1991 | Archives of Appalachia

Title: Thomas G. Burton Collection, 1967-1991

ID: 500/AppMs 160

Created by: Burton, Thomas G. (1935-)

Thomas G. Burton was born in Memphis, Tennessee on January 7, 1935. He attended public schools in Florida and North Carolina. Burton received his B.A. Degree in 1956 from David Lipscomb College, Nashville, Tennessee, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from Vanderbilt University, also located in Nashville in 1958 and 1966 respectively. He joined the East Tennessee State University faculty in 1958; since then he has served as a professor in the English department.

During his academic career, Burton has researched various aspects of Appalachian folk culture, among them folklore, balladry, storytelling and serpent handling in religious services. In 1964 Burton and Ambrose Manning, also of the English department at ETSU, began taping folk songs and folk tales. In 1969, Burton and Manning received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to teach oral history techniques to high school students in Avery and Watauga Counties in North Carolina. Both the tapes recorded by Burton and Manning and those recorded by the students became part of the Oral History Archives run by Burton and Manning. Those tapes were transferred to the Archives of Appalachia in January 1979, a few months after the archives' founding in 1978.

Beginning in the 1970s, Burton devoted much of his research effort to the phenomenon of handling serpents during religious services. He and Jack

Schrader of ETSU's art department collaborated on the documentary "They Shall Take Up Serpents" (1973). Later, Burton and Tom Headley, of the communication department at ETSU, collaborated on two other serpent-handling documentaries,

"Carson Springs: A Decade Later" (1983) and "Following the Signs: A Way of Conflict" (1987) and one documentary on violence in the South, "Traditional Springs: Violence in the South" (1985). As of the writing of this guide Burton's book on serpent-handling is forthcoming from the University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee.

Burton also directs the Appalachian-Scottish Studies program sponsored by ETSU's Center for Appalachian Studies and Services. This program includes an exchange with the School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh.

Arrangement: The collection is divided into series and subseries as follows: Series 1, Field Research in Folklore Class Materials, 1986-91; Series 2, Serpent-Handling Materials, 1983-89; and Series 3, Other Materials, 1978-90 and undated.

Extent: 4.0 Linear feet

Finding Aid/Inventory
Series 1: Field Research in Folklore Class Materials, 1986-1991
Series 2: Serpent-handling Materials, 1983-1989 and undated
Series 3: Other Materials, 1978-1990 and undated

Other Note: Click on URL below for Index to collection.

Other URL: http://www.etsu.edu/cass/Archives/Collections/afindaid/a160.html

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Scope and Contents: The Thomas G. Burton Collection includes manuscripts, photographic prints and negatives, audio and video tapes. The manuscripts include dub sheets and tape transcripts, one copy of a songbook, documentation related to the Tennessee Traditions in Perspective Colloquium, and one booklet on Tennessee snake-handlers. The photographic prints and negatives focus on serpent-handling church services in West Virginia and Tennessee. The audio and video tapes cover serpent-handling church services in Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana and Tennessee; folk song and storytelling performances; and interviews by East Tennessee State University folklore students of individuals who have knowledge of different folk practices and traditions in East Tennessee.

Index to collection available.