Beatrice Burgess, Minister, Papers
Collection
Collection Number: A&M 3439
This collection contains materials collected and created by Beatrice Burgess and her family. It includes materials from her personal life, work at Brevard College in North Carolina, work with the United Methodist Church, and work advocating for the poor and elderly.
Materials include organizational by-laws and meeting minutes, newsletters, pamphlets, church bulletins, awards, newspaper clippings, letters, government publications, yearbooks, scrapbooks, photographs, VHS tapes, CDs, and photo slides.
The collection is divided into four series:
Series 1. Advocacy
Series 2. Burgess Center for West Virginia Families and Communities
Series 3. Personal
Series 4. Religious Work
No special access restriction applies.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
Beatrice Burgess was born September 13, 1923, in Crandall, Indiana. She was a minister of three small Methodist churches in McDowell County, WV. She worked as an advocate for the poor, sick, hungry, and elderly in the West Virginia Legislature.
Burgess received her bachelor's degree from Western Kentucky University in 1948 after serving in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during World War II. She later received a master's degree in religious education from Scarritt College in 1957.
Burgess was a church and community worker for the United Methodist Church from 1957 until her death in 1993. She also worked as Dean of Women at Brevard College in North Carolina from 1968 to 1971. She first was the Director of Religious Education for the United Methodist Church (UMC) from 1957 to 1968, and was commissioned as a UMC Deaconess in Detroit, Michigan. She served in Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina before settling in West Virginia in 1971. In 1981, she served on the President’s Commission on Aging under President Carter.
Burgess was a registered lobbyist for the Council of Senior West Virginians and the Coalition on Legislation for the Elderly. She helped establish a health center and transportation system for the elderly in Monroe County, WV, and a food pantry network in Fayette County, WV.
Burgess tirelessly advocated for the poor and elderly in West Virginia, and received many recognitions and honors for her work, including the posthumously named Beatrice Ruth Burgess Center at the West Virginia University School of Social Work. Burgess passed away on May 22, 1993, in Asheville, NC.
1.08 Linear Feet (2 document cases, 5 in. each; 1 flat storage box, 3 in.)
English
Papers regarding Beatrice Burgess, a minister of three small Methodist churches in McDowell County, West Virginia. She worked as an advocate for the poor, sick, hungry, and elderly in the West Virginia Legislature. Includes publications regarding aging, church bulletins, photographs, and certificates. Also includes a 1947 yearbook for Western Kentucky State University; and a 1970 yearbook for Brevard College, North Carolina.
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: West Virginia & Regional History Center
Gifts of Karen V. Harper-Dorton, 2003 October 17 and 2004 August 31.
Part of the West Virginia and Regional History Center Repository