Sona Rosa Burstein (1897–1971) was a museum curator, folklorist and historian of

gerontology Gerontology ( ) is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive, and biological aspects of aging. The word was coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903, from the Greek , ''geron'', "old man" and , ''-logia'', "study of". The fie ...

Education

Born in 1897, she qualified from the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

in 1920 with an honours degree in Classics. In 1928 she qualified from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

with a postgraduate diploma in Anthropology (with a distinction in Social Anthropology).

Career

Burstein joined the staff of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1928, where she worked till her retirement in 1957. Her focus was on the cataloguing and display of the Wellcome's ethnographic collections. Burstein also researched topics around gerontology, a research interest which had begun during her time at Oxford.

Folklorist

Burstein was a long-standing member of the

Folklore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a national association in the United Kingdom for the study of folklore. It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts an ...

, joining the Society in 1923 and later serving as its President between 1956 and 1959. She was also a Fellow of the

Royal Anthropological Institute The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

(elected in 1932). The Presidential Addresses Burstein gave to the Folklore Society showcased the diversity of her interests: 'George Laurence Gomme and the Science of Folklore' (1957), 'Eighty Years of Folklore: Evaluations and Revaluations' (1958) and 'Folklore, Rumour and Prejudice' (1959).

Selected publications

* Burstein, S. R. (1946-07-01). "Gerontology". ''Postgraduate Medical Journal''. 22 (249): 185–190. doi:10.1136/pgmj.22.249.185.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs ...

0032-5473. PMC 2478352.

PMID PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain the ...

20276642. * Burstein, S. R. (1948), 'Care of the Aged in England: From Mediaeval Times to the End of the 16th Century'. ''Bulletin of the History of Medicine''. 22 (6): 738–746.

0007-5140.

JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

44442233. * Burstein, S. R. (1952-04-16). "Public health and prevention of disease in primitive communities". ''The Medical Press''. 227 (16): 370–375.

14940255. * Burstein, S. R. (1953-08). "Objectives and techniques in the psychosocial study of old age". ''Geriatrics''. 8 (8): 453–458.

0016-867X.

13068598. * Burstein, S. R. (1955-04). "The historical background of gerontology". ''Geriatrics''. 10 (4): 189–193.

0016-867X.

14366241. * Burstein, S. R. (1956-03-01). "Demonology and Medicine in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries". ''Folklore''. 67 (1): 16–33. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1956.9717516.

0015-587X. * Burstein, S. R. (1957-08). "The foundations of geriatrics". ''Geriatrics''. 12 (8): 494–499.

0016-867X.

13448391 *Burstein, S. R. (1961-09-01). "Some Modern Books on Witchcraft". ''Folklore''. 72 (3): 520–534. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1961.9717297.

0015-587X.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burstein, Sona Women folklorists Folklorists 1897 births 1971 deaths Presidents of the Folklore Society