Guide to the Burkett Family Papers
Record Group 008
Date Span: ca. 1850-2002
Extent: 78 volumes + 11 file folders
Biographical Sketch: Rev. Evander Vann Burkett, D.D. (1898 - 1967) joined A.M.E. Zion Church at a young age and later served as the local preacher at Birmingham's Payne Chapel. He attended Payne University where he graduated from high school and the theological department. He served as pastor for 10 years at John Chapel A.M.E. Church of Enterprise and was pastor of the Cherry Street AME Church of Dothan. He was appointed to the Hartford Circuit in October 1966, while hospitalized. He preached his last sermon at St. James on the Hartford Circuit, two weeks before his death in January 1967. (Source: Funeral program for Rev. E. V. Burkett, D.D., found in collection)
Harriet Adelaide Coleman Burkett (1898-2001) graduated from Payne University High School, taught school for five years, then married Rev. E.V. Burkett on January 28, 1935 in Selma, Alabama. The couple had three children: Evander Vann Burkett II, Verda (later Gentry) and Fountain Grant Burkett. After the birth of her children, Adelaide graduated from Alabama State Teacher's College and taught for 32 years. She retired from Montana Street Elementary School in Dothan, Alabama. (Source: Newspaper Obituary for Harriet Adelaide Coleman Burkett, Dothan Eagle, Nov 23, 2001, page 2B)
Rev. and Mrs. Burkett developed a residential subdivision in northeast Dothan in 1960.
Their daughter, Verda Burkett Lawler Gentry (1927-2023), graduated high school as valedictorian of North Highland Colored School, Dothan, AL, received a Bachelor of Arts from Talladega College (AL) and a Master's degree from Univ. of Michigan. She taught in Talladega, AL, New York, NY, and Detroit, MI. She retired from Detroit Public Schools and returned to Alabama, living in Dothan and Montgomery. Gentry was a founding member of the Charles H. Wright African American Museum, Detroit, MI, a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and a board member of the Dothan Museum of Art. (Source: "Obituary for Verda Burkett Lawler Gentry," Magnolia Cremations & Funeral Services, . Accessed 3.18.2024)
Scope / Content: The original accession in 2008 consisted of 58 books donated from the family library by assigns of Verda Gentry. The Wiregrass Archives received the Burketts' papers and a few extra books from a second accession in 2024. The papers document Rev. Burkett's sermons, Mrs. Burkett's career as a teacher and her life (via diaries, 1964 -1990), and contain ephemera about their family and churches.
Organization: Organized into series:
Series 1: Rev. E. V. Burkett Sermon Notes, n.d., 3 file folders
Series 2: Mrs. Adelaide Burkett Correspondence from Students, 1964 - 1969, 1 file folder
Series 3: Mrs. Adelaide Burkett Diaries, 1964 鈥 1990, 17 volumes
Series 4: Ephemera, 1923 - 2001, 7 file folders
Series 5: Library, 1850 - 1969, 61 volumes
Processing: Order imposed by Wiregrass Archives Staff. Library books encased in phase boxes.
Preferred Citation: Burkett Family Collection, RG 008. Wiregrass Archives, 快猫成版视频--Dothan Campus, Dothan, AL.
Access/User Limits: Open per gift agreements signed in 2008 and 2024.
Inventory
Series 1: Rev. E. V. Burkett Sermon Notes, n.d., 3 file folders
File I.D. File Label
008-24-0229-001-004 Sermon Notes - typed & hand written [6-ring binder, black]
008-24-0229-001-005 Sermon Notes - typed [3-ring binder, black] ; [WA note: cover of binder is gone]
008-24-0229-001-006 Sermon Notes - typed & hand written [3-ring binder, black] ; [WA note: includes E.V.'s funeral program, newspaper clippings, telegrams, letters]
Series 2: Mrs. Adelaide Burkett Correspondence from Students, 1964 - 1969, 1 file
folder
File I.D. File Label
008-24-0229-001-003 Letters from Children of Montana St. School, 1964-1969
Series 3: Mrs. Adelaide Burkett Diaries, 1964 鈥 1990, 17 items. Arranged chronologically. Be aware that those covering 1984-86 and 1988 are stored
in Box 1, so their File ID numbers are out of order.
File I.D. File Label
008-24-0229-002-001 Diary, 1964 [black cover, comb bound, cover titled "The Minister's Day-by-Day workbook and 1961-1961 Planning Calendar"]
008-24-0229-002-002 Diary, 1970 [black cover, spiral bound, cover titled "1970"]
008-24-0229-002-003 Diary, 1971 [black cover, spiral bound, cover titled "1971"]
008-24-0229-002-004 Diary, 1972 [brown cover, cover titled 鈥1972 Yearbook鈥漖
008-24-0229-002-005 Diary, 1974 [brown cover, gold lock, cover titled 鈥淔ive Year Diary鈥漖
008-24-0229-002-006 Diary, 1975 [orange cover, cover titled 鈥淒iary鈥漖
008-24-0229-002-007 Diary, 1976 [brown cover, spiral bound, cover titled 鈥淭he Minister's Day-by-Day workbook 1975-1976鈥漖
008-24-0229-002-008 Diary, 1978 [red cover, gold lock, cover titled 鈥淥ne-Year Diary鈥漖
008-24-0229-002-009 Diary, 1979 [blue cover w/ tree, cover titled "Deluxe Edition Write Your Own Book"]
008-24-0229-002-010 Diary, 1982 [tan cover, cover titled 鈥淥ne Year Diary鈥漖
008-24-0229-002-011 Diary, 1983 [red cover, cover titled 鈥淒iary"]
008-24-0229-002-012 Diary, 1984 [brown cover, cover titled "1984 Page-a-Day"]
008-24-0229-001-001 Diary, 1984-1986 [notebook, spiral bound, picture of cowboy boots on cover]
008-24-0229-002-013 Diary, 1987 [green cover, cover titled 鈥淥ne-Year Diary鈥漖
008-24-0229-001-002 Diary, 1988 [written on legal pad]
008-24-0229-002-014 Diary, 1989 [green cover, gold lock, cover titled 鈥淔ive Year Diary鈥漖
008-24-0229-002-015 Diary, 1990 [White cover, gold lock, cover titled Diary鈥漖 ; [WA note: diary replevined to donor, digital copy available]
Series 4: Ephemera, 1923 - 2001, 7 file folders
File I.D. File Label
008-02-006-001-001 Papers found in various Library Books - Two Permits to register at Tennessee A&I College (1948) plus a one-page handwritten article announcing a sorority initiation.
008-02-006-001-002 Papers Found in Library Books
008-02-006-001-003 Adult Bible Study Guides
008-24-0229-001-007 Bios - obits, event programs, family tree, wedding announcements, poetry, student newspaper, loan statement w/ returned checks, property documents, 1923-2001
008-24-0229-001-008 Ninth Episcopal District Annual Conference program, 1937
008-24-0229-001-009 Cherry Street A.M.E. Church Directory, 1992
008-24-0229-001-010 A.M.E. Christian Recorder newspaper (partial), Mar 28, 1967
Series 5: Library, 1850 - 1969, 61 volumes
Barclay, Robert. Apology for the True Christian Divinity; Being an Explanation and Vindication of the People Called Quakers. Philadelphia: Friends Book Store, 1880.
Barker, Eugene C., William Edward Dodd, and Henry Steele Commager. Our Nation's Development. Evanston, Ill: Row, Peterson and Company, 1937.
Beale, Charles E., and M. R. Gately. Gately's Universal Educator. An Educational Cyclopaedia and Business Guide. Boston: M.R. Gately, 1883.
Brueckner, Leo J., et al. The Triangle Arithmetics. Book One-[Three]. Philadelphia: The J.C. Winston Co, 1928.
Carroll, Franklin Bache. Understanding Our Environment. Book 1 of Interpreting Science Series. Philadelphia: Winston, 1947.
Carroll, Franklin Bache. Understanding Our World. Book 2 of Interpreting Science Series. Philadelphia: Winston, 1947.
Childebert, John Walters. The Golden Treasure, or a World of Knowledge. St. Louis: W.H. Ives & Co, 1891.
Cressey, George Babcock. Asia's Lands and Peoples: A Geography of One-Third the Earth and Two-Thirds Its People. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co, 1944.
Dougherty, James Henry. Elementary School Organization and Management. New York: Macmillian Co, 1950.
Eells, Harry L., Hugh C. Moeller, and Carl C. Swain. Rural School Management. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1924.
Goode, William. The Doctrine of the Church of England As to the Effects of Baptism in the Case of Infants. New York: Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge, 1857.
Goodwin, William Watson. Greek Grammar. Boston: Ginn & Co, 1897.
[Grammar] n.d. [Latin Grammar]
Guizot, Francois. A Popular History of England: From the Earliest Times to the Reign of Queen Victoria, Vol. 3. Boston: Aldine, 1886.
Guizot, Francois. A Popular History of England: From the Earliest Times to the Reign of Queen Victoria, Vol. 4. Boston: Aldine, 1886.
Haggerty, Melvin E., and Dora V. Smith. Reading and Literature: Book Three. Yonkers-on-Hudson, N.Y.: World Book Co, 1928.
Hamilton, Samuel. The Purpose, Preparation and Methods in the Recitation; Being a Revised and Reset Edition of The Recitation. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott co, 1923.
Henty, G. A. The Queen's Cup: A Novel. Chicago: M.A. Donohue, 1898.
Herrick, Virgil E., and Leland B. Jacobs. Children and the Language Arts. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1955.
Holmes, Ernest, and William H. D. Hornaday. Help for Today: How to Achieve Security by Using the Power Within You. Los Angeles, CA: Science of Mind Publications, 1969.
Hooker, Worthington. The Child's Book of Nature: For the Use of Families and Schools : Intended to Aid Mothers and Teachers in Training Children in the Observation of Nature : in Three Parts. Part I. Plants. New York: Harper & Bros, 1869.
Holy Bible. [black cover, gold lettering 鈥淩ev. E. Vann Burkett鈥漖
The Home Counsel Library. Vol. 4. Personal Help for Girls. ed. Louise F. Spaller. Cincinnati: S.A. Mullikin Co., 1924.
The Home Counsel Library. Vol. 5. Personal Help for Boys. ed. Thomas W. Shannon. Cincinnati: The S.A. Mullikin Co., 1924.
The Human Interest Library: Visualized Knowledge. Vol. 1. The Wonder World. Chicago: Midland Press, 1922.
The Human Interest Library: Visualized Knowledge. Vol. 2. Popular Science and Industry. Chicago: Midland Press, 1922.
Keniston, Hayward. Learning Spanish. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1954.
Kidder, Daniel P. A Treatise on Homiletics; Designed to Illustrate the True Theory and Practice of Preaching the Gospel. New York: Methodist Book Concern, 1892.
Kiekhofer, William H. Economic Principles, Problems, and Policies. New York and London: D. Appleton-Century Co, 1946.
Landman, J. H. New Outline - History of the World Since 1914. 6th Ed. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1946.
Livingstone, David. Livingstone's Africa: Perilous Adventures and Extensive Discoveries in the Interior of Africa. Philadelphia: Hubbard, 1872.
Lytton, Edward Bulwer. The Last Days of Pompeii. People's Edition. New York: American News Co, 1850.
The Outline of Knowledge. ed. James Albert Richards. Vol 1. The Romance of Evolution. ed. Frederick Herman Martens. New York: Richards, 1924.
The Outline of Knowledge. ed. James Albert Richards. Vol 4. The History of the World. ed. Arthur D. Innes. New York: J.A. Richards, 1924.
The Outline of Knowledge. ed. James Albert Richards. Vol 6. Geology. ed. Harold E. Slade, et al. New York: J.A. Richards, 1924.
The Outline of Knowledge. ed. James Albert Richards. Vol 7. Botany. ed. Marion E. Latham. New York: J.A. Richards, 1924.
The Outline of Knowledge. ed. James Albert Richards. Vol 11. English Poetry. New York: J. A. Richards, 1924.
The Outline of Knowledge. ed. James Albert Richards. Vol 16. Herodotus, Cicero, Utopia, Plutarch's Lives. New York: J.A. Richards, 1924.
The Outline of Knowledge. ed. James Albert Richards. Vol 17. Drama. New York: J.A. Richards, 1924.
Merrill, Stephen Mason. Christian Baptism: It's Subjects and Modes. Cincinnati: Hitchcock and Walden, 1876
Morris, Herbert W. Science and the Bible; Or The Mosaic Creation and Modern Discoveries. Philadelphia, Pa: Ziegler & McCurdy, 1871.
Morris, S.S., Jr. An African Methodist Primer. A.M.E. Sunday School Union Press.
Morton, Robert Lee, and Merle Grey. Making Sure of Arithmetic. New York: Silver Burdett, 1946.
Northrop, Henry Davenport. Life and Works of Charles H. Spurgeon; Being a Graphic Account of the Greatest Preacher of Modern Times. Chicago: Monarch Book Co, 1890.
Perkins, Clarence. Man's Advancing Civilization. New York: Rand, McNally & Co, 1934.
Plautus, Titus Maccius, and C. S. Harrington. T. Macci Plauti Captivi, Trinummus, Et Rudens. With English Notes, Critical and Explanatory. By C.S. Harrington. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1887.
Rathbone, Josephine Langworthy, et al. Foundations of Health. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1932.
Sharpless, Isaac, and G. M. Philips. Astronomy for Schools and General Readers. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co, 1892.
Sorenson, Grace. "Lively Plays for Boys and Girls"; A Collection of Fifteen One Act Plays. Minneapolis: Northwestern Press, 1934.
Stories of Fact and Fancy. Vol. 2 of Childcraft. [Chicago]: W. F. Quarrie Co., [1937].
Thackeray, William Makepeace. The History of Henry Esmond. Roslyn, N.Y.: Published for the Classics Club by Walter J. Black, 1942.
Tomas, Navarro Tomas, et al. A Primer of Spanish Pronunciation. Chicago: Benj. H. Saubom, 1926.
Touchstone to Zwingli. Vol. 10 of New Standard Encyclopedia: Systematized Information, Clear, Concise, Complete. Chicago: Standard Education Society, 1954.
Tressler, Jacob C., and Marguerite B. Shelmadine. Junior English in Action. Book Three. Boston: D.C. Heath, 1933.
Tupper, Martin Farquhar, and Alfred. Proverbial Philosophy ; A Modern Pyramid ; and the Poems of King Alfred. Philadelphia: E.H. Butler & Co, 1851.
The University Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Knowledge. ed. Henry M. MacCracken. Vol. 4, England to Herrera. New York: Co-operative Publication Soc, 1902.
The University Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Knowledge. ed. Henry M. MacCracken. Vol. 5, Herrick to Lombok. New York: Co-operative Publication Soc, 1902.
Van Doren, Carl. An American Omnibus. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, inc, 1933.
Wells, Webster, and Walter W. Hart. Progressive Second Algebra. Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1934.
Witt, Hattie E. Bryant. Institute Handbook for use in the Leadership Training Institute of the Ninth Episcopal District A.M.E. Church. Birmingham: Forniss Printing Co., n.d.
Young, Andrew W., and Salter S. Clark. The Government Class Book: A Youth's Manual of Instruction in the Principles of Constitutional Government and Law. New York: Clark & Maynard Publishers, 1882.
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