Bookmark this page or copy and paste URL to Email message Gale Burak Collection, 1930-2004.NAU.MS.384 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Descriptive Summary | |
| Creator: | Burak, Gale |
| Collection Name | Gale Burak Collection, |
| Dates: | 1940-1990 |
| Physical Description | The collection consists of 0.5 linear feet of manuscript material, 688 images, 1 oral history, and 1 moving image, and 4 annotated maps. |
| Abstract | Gale Burak was an avid outdoor woman who volunteered with and became a National Park Service employee. The Gale Burak Collection represents her correspondence, pictures, journals, maps, and articles based on her time at the Grand Canyon National Park. |
| Collection Number | NAU.MS.384 NAU.PH.2006.11 NAU.OH.2006.11 NAU.MI.2006.11 |
| Repository |
Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives
Department. Northern Arizona University Cline Library P.O. Box 6022 Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6022 Phone: 928 523 5551 Fax: 928 523 3770 Email: Special.Collections@nau.edu |
Biographical Note
Dorothy 'Gale' Gardner Burak was born on October 2, 1917 in Lexington, Virginia. Her family was originally from the Boston area, in Massachusetts, where she spent most of her childhood, even throughout many moves with her family.
She married Reuel MacLaughlin, her first husband, after high school, in 1937. He was older than her and contracted tuberculosis, which eventually resulted in a collapsed lung. The doctors recommended that Gale and her husband move out west where the environment was better for her husband's health. They both worked at the Motor Lodge, which was a Harvey house. However, they decided to part ways in 1942. Gale kept the bike and stayed at the Grand Canyon, while Reuel took the car and the dog with him to a position elsewhere.
While hiking in the Canyon, Gale took a job as a cook for the Havasu Lead and Zinc hard rock mining camp, a job which ended up lasting three months. Three years later, in 1945, she met and married her second husband, Fred T. Burak in the High Sierra. They settled in Sonora, California and had three children together: T. Lance, Susan, and Pam. In 1955, they moved to Lincoln, New Hampshire.
Gale kept returning to the Grand Canyon over the years, originally as a volunteer in the Back Country Office. Through volunteering and paid employment, she was a ranger for about four years at Cottonwood campground and then later worked at Phantom Ranch. She also served as a caretaker for the photographer, Emery Kolb, on and off over the years and in 1976, served as his final caretaker until he passed away. She is a member of the Grand Canyon Pioneers Society and has written many articles for their newsletter. In 1998, she also received the Grand Canyon Historical Society's Pioneer Award for all of her contributions to the park. Throughout her years in New Hampshire and Arizona, she gave many lectures and presentations to different groups concerning the Grand Canyon and the outdoors.
Gale died on March 10, 2011 at age 93.
Scope and Content Note
The Gale Burak Collection documents her activities in northern Arizona and the Grand Canyon National Park. Gale spent much of her adult life at the Grand Canyon National Park in varying capacities, such as mining camp cook, National Park volunteer interpreter, caretaker of Emery Kolb, educator, and writer. Of particular interest is the correspondence with Harvey Butchart, Bradford Washburn, and Betty Leavengood. Gale's hiking maps document a small fraction of her exploration of the Grand Canyon.
The collection is composed of manuscript items, photographs, annotated maps, oral histories, and one film. The manuscript collection is organized alphabetically by folder title and occupies 0.5 linear feet with inclusive dates of 1976-2006, with bulk dates of 1980-2006. The photograph collection contains 688 images, separated into sixteen different files. Gale shot most of the images during her time in the park and they include panoramic shots of many locations in the Grand Canyon.
Restrictions
Restrictions
Some of the oral histories were produced by the National Park Service as noted and require permission from them for use.
Copyright
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for Northern Arizona University, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Administrative Information
Credit Line
Gale Burak Collection [manuscript], NAU.MS.384, Northern Arizona University. Special Collections and Archives Dept.
Gale Burak Collection [photograph],NAU.PH.2006.11, Northern Arizona University. Special Collections and Archives Dept.
Gale Burak Collection [sound recording], NAU.OH.2006.11, Northern Arizona University. Special Collections and Archives Dept.
Gale Burak Collection [moving image], NAU.MI.2006.11, Northern Arizona University. Special Collections and Archives Dept.
Gale Burak Colleciton [map], NAU.MS.384.map 1273, Northern Arizona University.
Container List
| Series 1: Manuscripts, 1980-2006 | |||||||||||
| Scope and Content Note: | |||||||||||
| The manuscript portion of the collection contains biographical material, correspondence, articles both by and about the collection creator, as well as journal entries and other ephemera. | |||||||||||
| Box | folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Biographical Materials, Burak , 1980-2000 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Correspondence, Aiken, Bruce, 1997-1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Correspondence, Bleibtreu, Hermann K., 1978 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Correspondence, Bongo, 2000 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Correspondence, Burak , 1979-1988, 2006 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Correspondence, Butchart, Harvey, 1997-1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Correspondence, Cassidy, Dan, 1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Correspondence, Cooley, Dave, undated. | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Correspondence, Euler, Robert, 1982 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Correspondence, Gardner family, 1942-1945, 1978. | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Correspondence, Grand Canyon Hiking Information, 1976-1977, 2000 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Correspondence, Irwin, John W., 1978 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Correspondence, Kay, Connie, 1983 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Correspondence, Kolb, Emery, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Correspondence, Leavengood, Betty, 1995 | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Correspondence, National Park Service , 1975-1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Correspondence, Unidentified correspondents, 1958, 1990-2001 | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | Correspondence, Washburn, Bradford, 1978 | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Grand Canyon Historical Society, 2003, 2007 | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Grand Canyon News, October 1989 | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | Grand Canyon Pioneer Newsletter, 1993 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | Hance, John, Excerpts from Guestbook, 1891-1898 | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Journal Excerpts, Burak, Gale, 1943-1945, 1980 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Phantom Ranch materials, 1998-2000 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Pioneer Award, Burak, 1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Scenic Postcards, 1965, 1988-1999 | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | Scenic Postcards continued, 1965, 1978 | |||||||||
| 1 | 28 | Willis Family Geneaology, 1676, [1991] | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | Writings About Gale Burak , 1945, 1973-1998 | |||||||||
| 1 | 30 | Writings By Burak, 1978-2005 | |||||||||
| Articles written by Gale Burak for the Grand Canyon Pioneers Society (GCPS) Newsletter, often recounting experiences she had while working in the Grand Canyon. | |||||||||||
| Series 2: Photographs, 1930s-2004. (688 photographs) | |||||||||||
| Scope and Content Note: | |||||||||||
| This series is made up of photos taken by Gale while volunteering and working in the Grand Canyon. | |||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.1.1-.66 | Colorado River, Inner Gorge and Tonto Plateau (94 images), 1930s, 1967-1996 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.2.1-.12 | North Rim, Grand Canyon (14 images), 1975-1984 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.3.1-.40 | Cottonwood Campground (51 images), 1977-1983 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.4.1-.40 | Bright Angel Trail and Indian Gardens (Plateau Point) (42 images), 1973-1981 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.5.1-.13 | West Tonto Trail (33 images), 1975-1980 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.6.1-.13 | East Tonto Trail (18 images), 1975-1982 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.7.1-.41 | Hermit Campgrounds (56 images), 1953, 1971-1980 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.8.1-.24 | Colorado River to Cottonwood Campground (44 images), 1943, 1973-1997 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.9.1-.32 | Cottonwood Campground to North Rim (including Aikens) (44 images), 1940s, 1978-1997 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.10.1-.18 | South Kaibab Trail (Yaki) (30 images), 1942, 1973-1981, 1992 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.11.1-.48 | Phantom Ranch (60 images), 1942, 1976-1992 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.12.1-.30 | Supai (46 images), 1943, 1979 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.13.1-.31 | Moab and Arches National Park (32 images), 1984-1992 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.14.1-.19 | Clear Creek Trail and Miscellaneous (24 images), 1941-1942, 1976-1988 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.15.1-.54 | South Rim, People, and Kolb (65 images), 1942-1943, 1967-1983, 1990-2004 | ||||||||||
| NAU.PH.2006.11.16.1-.38 | Alaska (43 images), 1989-1991 | ||||||||||
| Series 3: Oral History Collection, 1980-2007 | |||||||||||
| Scope and Content Note: | |||||||||||
| The oral history collection contains two interviews of Gale Burak by staff from the Special Collections and Archives department at Cline Library, two interviews by staff from the Grand Canyon National Park Museum, and one interview by Betty Leavengood, who included material about Burak in her book, "Grand Canyon Women: Lives Shaped By Landscape". | |||||||||||
| NAU.OH.2006.114:1 | Burak, Gale with Peter Runge, April 20, 2006 | ||||||||||
| NAU.OH.2006.114:2 | Burak, Gale with Bee Valvo & Susan McGlothlin, April 25, 2007 | ||||||||||
| NAU.OH.2006.114: | Burak, Gale with Julie Russell , November 7, 1980 | ||||||||||
| The original is from Grand Canyon National Park Museum. | |||||||||||
| Please contact the National Park Service for permission to publish. | |||||||||||
| NAU.OH.2006.114:4 | Burak, Gale with Mike Quinn & Kim Besom , August 4-5, 1998 | ||||||||||
| The original is from Grand Canyon National Park Museum. | |||||||||||
| Please contact the National Park Service for permission to publish. | |||||||||||
| NAU.OH.2006.114:5 | Burak, Gale with Betty Leavengood , September 5, 1995 | ||||||||||
| Original provided by Betty Leavengood. | |||||||||||
| Series 4: Moving Images, 1995. | |||||||||||
| NAU.MI.2006.11:1 | Gale Burak, A Havasupai Adventure, 1995 | ||||||||||
| Title is also available on VHS | |||||||||||
| Series 5: Maps, | |||||||||||
| Scope and Content Note: | |||||||||||
| The maps record group contains 4 torn portions of topographic maps with annotations and is located in one folder (NAU.MS. 384)in the map drawers. | |||||||||||
| Previous to 2020 all SCA maps were assigned map numbers. In 2020 our extensive map collections were reorganized. Maps which were not associated with collections were assigned Library of Congress call numbers while maps that were associated with collections maintained the original map number within the associated manuscript collection. For assistance with maps, please ask an SCA employee. | |||||||||||
| NAU.MS.384 / MAP.1273 | |||||||||||
|
Map 1273.01 - Portion of a topographical map, Granite Gorge, annotated
and laminated, no date
Map 1273.02 - Portion of the Colorado River and the South Rim of the
Grand Canyon topographic map, no date
Map 1273.03 - Portion of topographic map Supai Esplenade,- annotated,
no date
Map 1273.04 - Portion of topographic map Granite Gorge, annotated and
laminated, no date
| |||||||||||