Special Collections Department
Kim Rogers Burdick
Papers Related to
Delaware Folklife
Manuscript Collection Number: 265
Accessioned: Gift of Kim Rogers Burdick, September 1992
Extent: 13 items (.2 linear ft.)
Content: Essays, grant proposal, editorial, and bio-sketch.
Access: The collection is open for research.
Processed: April 1993 by Anita Wellner.
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Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
Newark, Delaware 19717-5267
(302) 831-2229
Table of Contents
Biographical Note
Prior to this position, she served for two years as Legislative Fellow to the House Natural Resources and Hazardous Waste Committees. During this time she studied Delaware lobbyists at work. The culmination of that study was her M.P.A. thesis, "A Folklorist Looks at Lobbyists" (see F6).
Mrs. Burdick served as the co-ordinator of the Delaware Folklife Project from 1981-1989. During that time she developed a statewide volunteer group whose goal was to document, promote, and preserve Delaware's traditional culture. Her grant application for a Delaware Cultural Conservation Program in 1991 exhibits her continued efforts to establish a Delaware Folklife Program. She has further advocated the creation of Delaware's folklife program by lecturing extensively on Delaware's cultural history, assisting local historical societies, as well as by educating Delaware teachers. Because of her efforts, the State of Delaware has included funding for a folklorist in the state budget.
Mrs. Burdick received an M.P.A. in Agency Management from the College of Urban Affairs at the University of Delaware, an M.A. from the Cooperstown Graduate Programs, a B.A. from State University of New York at Cortland, and a certificate in French from l'Universite de Neuchatel, Switzerland.
Source:
Burdick, Kim Rogers. "Bio-Sketch." [1992]. See F9.
Scope and Content Note
The essays document several Delaware folklife projects in which Mrs. Burdick participated. Projects included a study of Port Penn fishermen; an interview with Delaware whittler, Jehu Camper; research and interviews on Delaware ghost stories; a study of Century Farms in Delaware for the Delaware Department of Agriculture; and a study of the folkways of professional lobbyists in Delaware. The study of Delaware lobbyists was completed during her two year term as Legislative Fellow in the Delaware Legislature and was the topic of her M.P.A. thesis written for the University of Delaware's College of Urban Affairs.
These papers not only document the force that Kim Burdick has been and is in establishing a Delaware folk-life program but also examine interesting pieces of Delaware's folk-life, specifically Delaware farming, ghost stories, Port Penn fishermen, and lobbyists.
This material is arranged chronologically by date the item was written.
Contents List
Fl "Circle Around the Moon: Port Penn Fishermen Past and
Present," 1982
Essay detailing through research and interviews the history
and cultural traditions of commercial fishing at Port Penn.
F2 "Just Whittlin': The Three-Dimensional World of Jehu
Camper," 1983
Essay based on research and interview with Jehu Camper, a
Delaware whittler. In the 1950s Jehu Camper was a Delaware
State Representative and Senator. His whittling depicts
scenes of Delaware rural life and consequently provide
information about Delaware's social history.
F3 "The Keeper of the Chair and Other Delaware Ghosts," 1985
Essay documenting ghost stories told in Delaware. These
stories were collected through interviews and research and
detail some of Delaware's death-lore. A number of the
stories included in this study were also included in
Burdick's book Once of a Niqht: ghost stories told in
Delaware (Wilmington: Kim Burdick, 1986--See Spec DEL PR 648
.G48 053x 1986).
F4 "Delaware's Blue and Gray Ghosts," 1985
Essay of Burdick's lecture as President of the Delaware
Folklife Project for the Mid-Atlantic Folklore Association.
The lecture includes an abstract and footnotes. The lecture
focuses on Civil War ghost stories told in Delaware,
especially stories sympathetic to blacks and Confederate
soldiers. Also includes historical information about
slavery in Delaware and Fort Delaware. Some of this
information is incorporated into "Delaware Ghosts" the
one-act play produced by the Delaware Theatre Company.
F5 "Century Farms," 1989
Portions of a publication on Century Farms in Delaware.
Burdick produced this report for the Delaware Department of
Agriculture. Includes interviews with the three families
included in the Century farms pilot project. The Century
Farm Program salutes individual families who have maintained
active farming operation on their land for one hundred or
more years.
F6 "A Folklorist Looks at Lobbyists," 1989
Burdick's M.P.A. thesis completed as a Legislative Fellow in
the Delaware Legislature. The study details the folkways of
professional lobbyists in Delaware. Includes a brief history
of lobbying, as well as information specific to Delaware
lobbyists.
F7 "A Greenways Dream," 1991 Mar 7
Photocopy of Burdick's editorial for the Wilmington News
Journal advocating the creation of corridors of "greenways"
from Fox Point Park in Brandywine Hundred to Fenwick Island
on the Maryland border. Also includes a News Journal
editorial supporting her concept and a map, "Coastal
Heritage Greenway."
F8 Grant Application--Delaware Cultural Conservation Program,
1991 Apr 15
Photocopy of a typescript of the grant written by Burdick
requesting the establishment of a position, State Cultural
Conservation Program Manager and a statewide cultural
conservation/folklife program for Delaware.
F9 Bio-sketch for Kim Rogers Burdick, [1992]
Photocopy of a bio-sketch plus a business card for Mrs. Burdick.
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