Personal and professional papers of Scott Burton, a noted performance artist and sculptor. The Scott Burton Papers comprises records Burton produced, collected, and compiled, over two decades as a noted performer and sculptor. Together with family records, juvenilia, and records from after Burton's death, the collection contains material from every decade of the 20th century, but the bulk of the material dates from the 1960s, after Burton's move to New York, until 1989, a high point of activity in his career and the year of his sudden death. The order of the several series in the papers are arranged largely by the era they originate from. Series I, Family Records and Photographs, is composed of material accumulated by Burton's mother, Hortense Burton. The series consists largely of family photographs, many passed down from Hortense Burton's parents and other forebears. While most of the images are undated, and nearly all are unidentified, the earliest dated materials are from the first decades of the 20th century. Other material in the series includes family correspondence, wills and legal documents, news clippings, and materials related to Hortense Burton's professional career in various government posts. Materials specifically related to Scott Burton in this series include photographs from various stages of his life up to 1980; report cards, school photographs, and other records of his elementary education; notes and materials from Scott's college education, and other juvenilia. Series II, Project Files, continues the record of Burton's life up through 1989. Early files here contain plays and poems Burton wrote during and after college when he still intended to pursue a career as a writer, and records of his performance and conceptual artworks begin here with materials related to Street Works (1969), and Ten Tableaux: Theater as Sculpture and Furniture/Landscape (1970). There is documentation present for most of Burton's activities in the 1970s including his major performances and early sculptures but documentation varies from minimal quantities, such as photographs or only ephemera, to significant documentation such as handwritten drafts and "scripts" for his performances and sketches or plans of activities. Once Burton changed his focus to predominantly producing sculptural objects, the nature of the documentation changes. According to Burton, he rarely worked from sketches when developing his sculpture, preferring to work directly with three dimensional models constructed of disposable materials such as cardboard and balsa wood. These models would then be translated into mechanical drawings for the fabricators. Therefore, apart from relatively few extant mechanical drawings of specific pieces, the records present for Burton's activities in the 1980s consist mostly of business correspondence, contracts and technical documents of pieces, and other assorted records. There is little evidence of the actual creative activity involved with conceiving his works. Of these later records, the largest group of files is devoted to Burton's work for the Battery Park City and World Financial Center plaza. This was Burton's largest commission to date and part of a complex development, and the quantity and scope of the records reflect the enormous scale of the project. It is important to note that little to no records exist of Burton's activities as an art reviewer and editor. A group of files in this series with the heading "Gay Materials" seem to relate to Burton's editorship of Art-Rite magazine and his involvement with gay culture in and outside the arts, but little evidence is present of Burton's actual activities and functions in this area. Series III and Series IV both compose Burton's administrative files. Maintained in discrete sets, separate from the previous project files, they nonetheless overlap in date range and types of records present. Evidence suggests than around 1982 Burton hired an administrative assistant to aid in his growing schedule of exhibitions and commissions. The files of Series III suggest that his first administrative assistant was Karen Chambers as many of the materials bear her name. Material consists of business correspondence, expense documents, and materials relating to specific artworks and exhibitions. Also grouped with these records are twenty-one of Burton's appointment calendars spanning the years 1969-1989. In 1985, Burton hired Nina Felshin as a new assistant and she was employed by him for five years through his death. Afterwards, Felshin was employed by Burton's estate to manage the liquidation of the estate, to aid in memorials, and to otherwise tie up unfinished business. Felshin's records which comprise Series IV, therefore, span the apex of Burton's career and activities while also providing valuable documentation on the last year of his life, the provenance of late works, the disposition of his possessions, and other retrospective activities. While records of previous series contain some biographical documents, resumes, and bibliographies, Series IV contains the greatest number of such documents and the most complete and final versions. Separate files are present for late commissions, exhibitions, and publications, particularly the exhibition Scott Burton, held at the Baltimore Museum of Art, in 1986 and accompanied by an exhaustive catalogue of Burton's career. The files in this series contain extensive financial records, medical insurance records, and other materials relating to Burton's illness. There are numerous drafts of Burton's will and testimonies to his last days of life. Inventories of Burton's estate and material possessions are present as well as records detailing their dispersal by gift, auction, and general sale. Series V contains photographs, slides, and transparencies produced and collected over Burton's entire career. Thousands of images document Burton's earliest performances from the late sixties up to his last sculptural works. The greater part of this series has very little identification or labeling, so more works are likely represented than indicated in the folder descriptions. Finally, Series VI comprises published material, primarily magazines and catalogues showcasing Burton's work. While Burton personally possessed a large collection of books on art, art history, decoration and furniture, that collection was dispersed separately by his estate. The published materials here are mainly documents of Burton's work through representation in catalogues, magazine articles and reviews, or other mention. Subseries VI.A, however, may have been part of Burton's reference library in that the small number of books all concern topics relevant to his art such as body language and social interaction, urban planning, anthropology and sociology. Subseries VI.B represents group and solo exhibition catalogues produced by museums and galleries and catalogues of public and private collections. Subseries VI.C contains magazines and periodicals, predominantly art-related magazines, though some news and general interest publications are also present. All three subseries represent, in print, the whole of Burton's life and achievements.
