Kathleen "Kay" Burford papers

Collection — Folder: 1

Identifier: IWA0966

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Kay Burford papers date from 1918-2010 and are arranged in four series: Personal, Professional, Photographs, and Audiovisual.

The Personal (1918-2010) series includes daily planners, address books, and school records belonging to Burford. Some highlights of the series include a cook book used by Burford’s mother, and a program for an Iowa City art exhibit, “The Fascinating History of Cats,” which Burford spoke about for a local group, the Raphael Club. The correspondence section of the series is largely made up of letters from the Burfords and their children to their extended family when they lived in the United Kingdom in 1960-1961. Finally, this series concludes with a significant amount of material related to the end of Burford’s life such as condolences, obituaries, and a list of gifts given to community organizations in memory of her life.

The Professional (1938-2008) series contains correspondence, copyright registration, drafts, and final copies for many of Burford’s published and unpublished works from 1938-1994. This series includes drafts of several scenes from Burford’s unpublished work, Grud’s Garden, on paper and acetate as well as correspondence, drafts, and photographs of models for Burford’s illustrations for Kimako’s Strory. Additionally, this series contains a copy of the issue of Junior Bazaar in which her work “Bedtime Story” was published, a list of shows in which Burford’s artwork was displayed, and thank you cards from elementary school students after Burford visited their class.

Materials related to the artists’ colony, Yaddo, and Burford’s time there, are in the Yaddo (1971-2008) subseries. The subseries includes one Yaddo newsletter, correspondence from Yaddo friends and acquaintances, and several signed books of poetry and prose by authors Burford knew at Yaddo. One of these, The Princess of 72nd Street by Elaine Kraf, is dedicated to Kay Burford.

The Photographs (1970-1973) series includes photographs of Burford’s friends, family, and pets, most of which are undated. Many of the photographs in this series are portraits of writers at Yaddo and in Iowa City. The Friends, Photograph album folder also contains photographs of the Franzen Brothers circus, which may have served as inspiration for Byron Burford’s circus themed art.

The Audiovisual series includes a DVD entitled “Kay Burford: 1920-2009” and slides related to an art exhibit entitled “The Fascinating History of the Cat.” Burford presented these slides as a member of the Iowa City Raphael Club.

Dates

Creation: 1918-2010

Creator

Kathleen (Kay) Burford (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright held by the donor has been transferred to the University of Iowa.

However, copyright status for some collection materials may be unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility and potential liability based on copyright infringement for any use rests exclusively and solely with the user. Users must properly acknowledge the Iowa Women’s Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, as the source of the material. For further information, visit https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/services/rights/

Biographical / Historical

Kathleen “Kay” Burford was born in Dubuque, Iowa in 1920, the only child of Mark and Kathryn Kane. She graduated from the Academy of the Visitation in Dubuque in 1937. She later received a BFA and MFA from the University of Iowa, where she studied art and taught drawing. Burford became one of the first three women to attend the Iowa Writer’s Workshop in 1947. That year, her short story, “Bedtime Story,” was published in Junior Bazaar.

While studying at the University, she met and married artist and fellow student, Byron Burford. The two raised three children in Iowa City while Byron Burford pursued painting as a professor of art at the University of Iowa. The two worked at Yaddo, an artist’s retreat in Saratoga Springs, New York in the early 1970s. They were married for 65 years.

Burford continued to write and draw throughout her life. Her published work included the illustrations for June Jordan’s children’s book, Kimako’s Story, and a series of cat themed postcards entitled Be Positive About Your Doubts.

She died in Iowa City in 2009.