Burton, Virginia Lee, 1909-1968

American author and illustrator of children's picture books.

From the description of Life story : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62436210

From the description of The emperor's new clothes : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62731868

From the description of The little house : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62731867

Virginia Lee Burton was born in Newton Center, Massachusetts, on August 30, 1909. In 1930, she enrolled in a drawing class taught by George Demetrios at Boston Museum School. They were married less than a year later, on March 28, 1931, and settled in Folly Cove, where they raised their two sons. Burton began writing children's books to entertain her children. Her first illustration work was a commission by the publisher Houghton Mifflin Company to provide the artwork for Sad-Faced Boy (1937) by Arna Bontemps. Shortly afterward, Choo Choo: The Story of a Little Engine Who Ran Away (1937) became the first published book that Burton both wrote and illustrated. Burton received the Caldecott Medal and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for Little House (1942). Other well-known works by Burton include Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (1939), Calico, the Wonder Horse (1941), Katy and the Big Snow (1943), and Maybelle, the Cable Car (1952). It would be ten years before Burton published her final book, Life Story (1962), in which she tells the tale of life at its inception through an illustrated stage play. The acts and scenes are narrated by a cast of characters, including an astronomer, a geologist, a paleontologist, a historian, a grandmother, and Burton herself. Burton researched the text at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The final pages depict the last twenty-five years of her life in Folly Cove, where she passed away on October 15, 1968 at the age of fifty-nine.

From the description of Virginia Lee Burton papers, 1954-1962. (Franklin & Marshall College). WorldCat record id: 352887334

American author and illustrator of children's books.

From the description of Maybelle, the cable car : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62402399

American author and illustrator of children's picture books; Caldecott Award winner, 1943.

From the description of Papers, 1942-1962. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62685203

Virginia Lee Burton (1909-1968) was an American illustrator and author of children's books, including The little house, which was awarded the Caldecott medal in 1943.

From the description of Virginia Lee Burton papers, ca. 1937-1962. (University of Oregon Libraries). WorldCat record id: 73007186

Virginia Lee Burton (1909-1968) wrote and illustrated many timeless and well-loved children's books, including The Little House, which was awarded the Caldecott medal in1943.

She was born in Newton Centre, Massachusetts on August 30, 1909, and later studied art and ballet in California. Her drawings have appeared in the Boston Transcript, where she was a member of the staff for two year. She married George Demetrios, who had been her sculpture teacher, and they had two children. For many years they lived in Folly County, Gloucester, Massachusetts. She died in 1968.

The Virginia Lee Burton Papers are an important addition to the University of Oregon's Children's Collection because it demonstrates the stages of work that go into illustrating, from initial sketch to finished book. The numerous preparatory sketches, the reworking of illustrations that had not proven personally satisfactory to Ms. Burton, and the demands for quality reproduction of the artwork indicate her meticulous attention to detail.

From the guide to the Virginia Lee Burton papers, ca. 1937-1962, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries)