Maxwell Struthers Burt

Maxwell Struthers Burt (October 18, 1882 Baltimore, Maryland – August 29, 1954, Jackson Hole, Wyoming), was an American novelist, poet, and short-story writer.

Life

Struthers Burt grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Princeton University in 1904. In 1908 he moved to Wyoming and founded, with Louis Joy, the JY Ranch, which would later become the famous Rockefeller Ranch of the same name. In 1912, following a dispute with Louis Joy, he established the Bar B C Ranch, a dude ranch. He met and married his wife, Katherine Newlin Burt an author of Western novels, in the same year. Burt's son, Nathaniel Burt, was also a published writer.^[1] Burt was one of the people who led ultimately to the establishment of Grand Teton National Park when, in 1923, he met with other like-minded individuals at Maud Noble's cabin and began the process of gathering support to have the area come under protection by the Federal Government.

Burt's fifth novel, Along these Streets, was in the eyes of a much younger E. Digby Baltzell in comparison with some competing novels "... a far more sensitive portrait of Proper Philadelphia".^[2] This portrait, however, is being painted in opposition to Proper Philadelphia's conservatism, which the novel's main character, Felix Bartain Macalister, readily acknowledges: "...I think I'm what might be called a radical liberal, but I'm for evolution, not revolution."^[3] At the end of the novel, Felix escapes and finds himself on horseback in... Wyoming.

Burt's papers are housed at Princeton University.

Bibliography

Collections of poetry

• In The High Hills (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1914)
• Songs and Portraits (1920)
• When I Grew Up to Middle Age (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1925)
• War Songs (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1942)

Plays

• The Mullah of Miasmia (1903)

Novels

• The Interpreter’s House (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1924)
• The Delectable Mountains (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1927)
• Festival (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1931)
• Entertaining the Islanders (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1933)
• Along These Streets (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1942)

Collections of short stories

• John O'May and Other Stories (1918)
• Chance Encounters (1921)
• They Could Not Sleep (1928)

Non fiction

• The Diary of a Dude Wrangler (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1924)
• The Other Side' (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1928)
• Malice in Blunderland (1935)
• Escape from America (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1936)
• Powder River: Let 'er Buck (Farrar & Rinehart, New York,1938) part of the Rivers of America Series
• Patriotism Versus Prejudice: Hitler Forces at Work in America (American Jewish Committee, 1939)
• Philadelphia Holy Experiment (Doubleday, Doran,& Co., New York, 1945)
• The History of Cap and Gown: 1890-1950 (Princeton University Press, 1951)

Magazine articles (Also see pseudonym Burt Struthers)

• The Diary of a Dude Wrangler, The Saturday Evening Post May 3, 1924
• Beauty and the Blantons, McCall’s June, 1925
• Acorns, The Saturday Evening Post Jan 9, 1926
• Adventure, The Saturday Evening Post Jun 30, 1928
• Artists, The Saturday Evening Post Jun 1, 1929
• C’est La Guerre, The Saturday Evening Post Feb 5, 1927
• Democracy for Everyone, The Saturday Evening Post Jul 30, 1932

Notes

1. "Julia Burt Atteberry Papers, 1829-1979". Summary information. Princeton University Library. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
2. E. Digby Baltzell (1958), Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class, Transaction Publishers {2004}: New Brunswick, NJ, p. 45.
3. Struthers Burt (1942), Along these Streets, Charles Scribner's Sons: New York, NY, p. 292

References

• American Book Exchange
• Papers and Biography in Princeton Library

External links

• Works by Maxwell Struthers Burt at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Maxwell Struthers Burt at Internet Archive
• Works by Maxwell Struthers Burt at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)