Oversize Material,, 1929-1996

The Ardath W. Burks Papers date from 1928 to 1996. The papers are approximately 20.3 cubic feet in size; they include thirty-nine legal size manuscript boxes, nineteen letter size manuscript boxes, one photograph box, and four oversize boxes.

The papers contain material relating to both Burks's personal and public activities. Personal activities relate to his family and home life. His relationship with Japan, manifested in many ways, dominates his public activities; Burks's education, military service, promotion of positive relationships between Japan and the United States, and his academic career and endeavors relating to academia comprise elements of his public activities. However, the line of demarcation between the two spheres of activity blurs often, and documents like correspondence frequently contain information related to a myriad of topics, such as his family life, academic activities, and participation in Sister Cities International programs. Likewise, many series contain inter-related and complementary materials.

The Personal Files includes documents relating to Burks's family, his education from high school through graduate studies, and his career as a professional academic. Subjects within the Public Relations Files derive from Burks's military career, his status as a member of the faculty and administration of Rutgers University, his authoritative opinions regarding Japan and U.S.-Japanese relations, and his participation in international affairs. However, articles about or informed by Burks can be found throughout the collection, particularly in the Correspondence and Documents series.

Correspondence and Documents covers the greatest breadth of topics. All facets of Burks's life are found in this series; material ranges from Burks's letters to his wife to his participation in the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum's programs. The bulk of the series consists of correspondence between Burks and others in his professional capacities as a writer, administrator, teacher, and active researcher. The promotion of ties between Japan and the United States in a myriad of forms generated a substantial portion of the documents.

In contrast, the Military Service Files is a narrowly defined series concerning Burks's training and service as a naval language and intelligence officer. The Travel Files series is also a relatively discrete series relating to Burks's travel throughout the world. The majority of his peregrinations relate, albeit sometimes indirectly, to his academic work in the form of research trips and conference travel; the Yatoi conference in Japan is particularly prominent. However, this series also includes documentation of purely personal excursions, such as the trip to Belize in 1993.

The Subject Files series primarily consists of material documenting participation in formal academic institutions such as professional organizations and research centers. This material complements and intertwines with material generated by Burks's international activities and promotion of relationships between individuals and institutions within the United States and Japan.

The Lectures and Papers series, Collected Publications series, and Columbia University Seminar on Modern East Asia: Japan series all contain inter-related material generated by Burks's academic career. The Lectures and Papers series contains the broadest range of material, including Burks's published and unpublished writings, his teaching materials, documents accrued by Burks, and material generated by his participation in innovative academic institutions. The Columbia University Seminar on Modern East Asia: Japan series directly relates to one such institution, Columbia's Seminar on Modern East Asia: Japan, and contains copies of papers circulated for the seminar from its commencement. The Collected Publications series is also discrete, comprised solely of publications, in contrast to the unpublished papers collected by Burks in the Lectures and Papers series.

The Photographs series includes slides, prints, negatives and a scrapbook. Portraiture of Burks and his family, prints documenting official events, and reproductions of Griffis-related research material constitute this series.

The Personal and Travel Diaries contain entries relating to both Burks's private and academic life. Though many of the journals are completely filled, others are only partially filled. Each box's contents span approximately one decade. Around 1952, Burks began his extensive travel and at this point the entries take on a different tone. Whereas in earlier years Burks comments mainly on his personal life, and his own and others' political ideologies, the later years are filled mainly with historical facts of other nations, political situations, observations regarding cultural differences, and travel agendas. Though the topic of travel dominates these later years, interspersed are entries addressing personal events including his evolving and often frustrating relationship with Rutgers University, the death of his brother, Allen, and later, that of his wife Jane.

Datebooks are pocket-sized calendars containing various personal appointments. Each diary has been physically described in the event that they become separated from the files or boxes. The numbers are found only on the files that hold each diary, not on the diaries themselves.

Burks himself has annotated several documents within the collection.

Material concerning and generated by Jane Lyle Burks is interspersed throughout the collection.

Oversize materials have been stored separately.

Newspaper clippings throughout this collection have been photocopied for preservation and the originals discarded. However, full size newspaper pages are located in the oversize folders.