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Nathaniel Burt [Burt’s Poems]
1913~
poet, writer, novelist, composer, and academician
(no photo available)
Nathaniel Burt was born in
Moose, Wyoming, on November 21, 1913, to Struthers
Burt and Katharine Newlin Burt, both writers. Rearing their children,
Nathaniel and his sister Julia Burt [Atteberry] in lonely Wyoming,
Burt's parents took to writing and became noteworthy authors of tales set in
the vast western wilderness.
Burt attended St. James's
preparatory school in Maryland
– upon which his novel Scotland's
Burning (1953) is based – and then Princeton in
1932-1933 as a college freshman. Burt eventually earned his Bachelor of
Science degree in musical education from New York
University in 1939 and, after
serving in the Navy during World War II, his Master of Fine Arts degree from Princeton
in 1949. He taught in the Department of Music at Princeton
from 1939-1941 and 1950-1952.
After leaving the University
in 1952, Burt dedicated himself to writing full-time. He has composed pieces
in a wide variety of genres, including ballet, musical score, orchestral
overture, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and short
stories. Burt is best known for his two books on the American 'aristocracy'
(The Perennial Philadelphians and First Families) and lesser known for his
various works about Wyoming
(Jackson Hole Journal, Wyoming, 1991).
Burt has lived in Princeton
for over 50 years, where he currently lives with his wife Margaret
"Winkie" Clinton Burt (married August 5, 1941). Throughout his life he has supported
and has been an active member in a variety of local civic organizations,
including the Historical Society of Princeton, the Princeton Chamber
Orchestra, the Philadelphia Atheneum, the Friends of Music at Princeton,
and the Friends of the Princeton University Library.
Burt is probably most known
for his book The Perennial Philadelphians. Burt taught theory at Westminster
Choir College
in 1950-51, served on the Board of Trustees, and has been a benefactor to
Talbott Library. Upon the retirement of President Ray Robinson, Burt created
in his honor an endowed fund for the purchase of books. The collection
contains his musical manuscripts and copies of his books.
Source:
http://libweb.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/burt-n.html
library.rider.edu/talbott/specialcollections.html
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