![Mother West Wind Where Stories frontispiece - Project Gutenberg eText 17250](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Mother_West_Wind_Where_Stories_frontispiece_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_17250.jpg)
Thornton Waldo Burgess (January 17, 1874 – June 5, 1965) was an American
conservationist and author of
children's stories. He was sometimes known as the Bedtime Story-Man, after his newspaper column ''Bedtime Stories''. By the time he retired, he had written more than 170 books and 15,000 stories for the daily newspaper column.
Biography
Early life and career
Born January 17, 1874 in
Sandwich, Massachusetts
Sandwich is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. The town motto is ''Post tot Naufracia Portus'', "after so many shipwrecks, a haven". The population was 20,259 at the 2020 census.
History
Cape Cod ...
, on
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
, Burgess was the son of Caroline F. Haywood and Thornton W. Burgess Sr., a direct descendant of Thomas Burgess, one of the first Sandwich settlers in 1637. Thornton, Sr., died the same year his son was born, and the young Thornton, Jr. was brought up by his mother in Sandwich. They lived in humble circumstances. As a youth, he worked tending cows, picking
trailing arbutus (mayflowers) or berries, shipping water lilies from local ponds, selling candy, and trapping
muskrats. William C. Chipman, one of his employers, lived on Discovery Hill Road, a wildlife habitat of woodland and wetland. This habitat became the setting of many stories in which Burgess refers to Smiling Pool and the Old Briar Patch.
["Thornton W. Burgess (1874 - 1965)", The Thornton W. Burgess Society]
/ref>
Graduating from Sandwich High School
Sandwich High School is a public high school located in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, United States. The school serves the students of Sandwich, Massachusetts. Enrollment at the school is about 700 students in grades 9–12, and employs 85 facult ...
in 1891, Burgess briefly attended a business college in Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
from 1892 to 1893, living in Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area o ...
, at that time. But he disliked studying business and wanted to be an author. He relocated to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he accepted a job as an editorial assistant at the Phelps Publishing Company. His first stories were written using the pseudonym "W. B. Thornton".
Burgess married Nina Osborne in 1905, but she died in childbirth a year later, leaving him to raise their son alone. It is said that he began writing bedtime stories to entertain his young son, Thornton III. Burgess remarried in 1911; his wife Fannie had two children by a previous marriage. The couple later bought a home in Hampden, Massachusetts
Hampden is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,966 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The namesake of Hampden is John Hampden, an English patriot ...
, in 1925 that became Burgess' permanent residence in 1957. His second wife died in August 1950. Burgess returned frequently to Sandwich, which he always claimed as his spiritual home. Many of his childhood experiences and the people he knew there influenced his interest and were the impetus for his concern for wildlife.[
]
''Old Mother West Wind''
Burgess used his outdoor observations of nature as plots for his stories. In Burgess' first book, ''Old Mother West Wind'' (1910), the reader meets many of the characters found in later books and stories. The characters in the ''Old Mother West Wind'' series include Peter Rabbit
Peter Rabbit is a fictional animal character in various children's stories by English author Beatrix Potter.
A mischievous, adventurous young rabbit who wears a blue jacket, he first appeared in ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in 1902, and subs ...
(known briefly as Peter Cottontail), Jimmy Skunk, Sammy Jay, Bobby Raccoon, Little Joe Otter, Grandfather Frog, Billy Mink, Jerry Muskrat, Spotty the Turtle, Old Mother West Wind, and her Merry Little Breezes.[
]
Additional publications
For the next 50 years, Burgess steadily wrote books that were published around the world in many languages, including French, Gaelic, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish. Collaborating with him was his illustrator and friend Harrison Cady
Walter Harrison Cady (1877–1970) was an American illustrator and author, best known for his ''Peter Rabbit'' comic strip which he wrote and drew for 28 years.
Biography
Early life and career
Cady was born in Gardner, Massachusetts, to a tow ...
who was born and raised in Gardner, Massachusetts
Gardner, officially the City of Gardner, is a city in Worcester County in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,287 in the 2020 census. Gardner is home of such sites as the Blue Moon Diner, Dunn State Park, ...
, and thereafter of New York and Rockport, Massachusetts. Peter Rabbit
Peter Rabbit is a fictional animal character in various children's stories by English author Beatrix Potter.
A mischievous, adventurous young rabbit who wears a blue jacket, he first appeared in ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'' in 1902, and subs ...
was created by British author and illustrator Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...
, prompting Burgess to note, "I like to think that Miss Potter gave Peter a name known the world over, while I with Mr. Cady's help perhaps made him a character."
From 1895 to 1962, Burgess wrote "nearly 900" stories, natural science articles, and poems for magazines, including 201 children's stories for ''People's Home Journal'' magazine. For over 16 years from May 1913 through the magazine's demise following its final December 1929 issue, Burgess published a children's story in every issue of ''People's Home Journal'' magazine.
From 1912 to 1960, without interruption, Burgess wrote his syndicated daily newspaper column (via the George Matthew Adams Service), ''Bedtime Stories''.
Radio broadcasts
From 1912 to 1960, Burgess also broadcast on the radio. His ''Radio Nature League'' radio series began at WBZ (AM)
WBZ (1030 AM) is a Class A clear channel radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts. Originally started by, and formerly owned for most of its existence by, Westinghouse Broadcasting and its successor CBS Radio, WBZ is owned and operat ...
, then located in Springfield, in early January 1925. Burgess broadcast the program from the studio at the Hotel Kimball on Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. Praised by educators and parents, the program had listeners and members in more than 30 states at its peak. Burgess' ''Radio Nature League'' disbanded briefly in August 1930, but he continued to give radio talks for WBZ concerning conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Conservation may also refer to:
Environment and natural resources
* Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...
and the humane treatment of animals.[
]
Final publications
In 1960, Burgess published his last book, ''Now I Remember, Autobiography of an Amateur Naturalist'', depicting memories of his early life in Sandwich as well as his career highlights. That same year, Burgess, at the age of 86, had published his 15,000th newspaper column.[
In 1998, Burgess' granddaughter, Frances B. Meigs, published ''My Grandfather, Thornton W. Burgess : An Intimate Portrait'', detailing her childhood growing up under his wing.
]
Death
He died on June 5, 1965, at the age of 91. His son had died suddenly the year before.
Awards and accomplishments
Burgess was actively involved with conservation
Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws.
Conservation may also refer to:
Environment and natural resources
* Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...
efforts. Some of his projects during his lifetime included:
* Helping to pass laws protecting migrant wildlife.[Hoexter, Corinne K., "Where Peter Rabbit Romped on Cape Cod", ''The New York Times'', August 12, 1990]
/ref>
* "The Green Meadow Club" for land conservation programs.
* "The Bedtime Stories Club" for wildlife protection programs.
* "Happy Jack Squirrel Saving Club" for War Savings Stamps & Bonds.
* ''The Radio Nature League'' broadcast from WBZA in Boston and WBZ in Springfield, Massachusetts.
For his efforts, Burgess also received:
* An Honorary Literary Degree in 1938, from Northeastern University
* A special gold medal from the Museum of Science in Boston, for "leading children down the path to the wide wonderful world of the outdoors"
* The Distinguished Service Medal of the Permanent Wildlife Protection Fund.
Legacy and influence
Wildlife Sanctuaries and Museum
After his death, the Massachusetts Audubon Society
The Massachusetts Audubon Society, commonly known as Mass Audubon, founded in 1896 by Harriet Hemenway and Minna B. Hall and headquartered in Lincoln, Massachusetts, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "protecting the nature of Massachusett ...
purchased Burgess' Hampden home and established the Laughing Brook Wildlife Sanctuary at that location; the house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
The Thornton W. Burgess Society operates the Green Briar Nature Center in East Sandwich, Massachusetts. The Society's Thornton W. Burgess Museum in Sandwich closed to the public October 2012.
Other
* A middle school in Hampden, Massachusetts was named after Burgess in honor of his work for conservation. The school opened in 1967 and was closed by the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District in June 2018.
* In the early 1970s, an anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
television adaptation of some of Burgess' works was produced by a Japanese animation studio and was later distributed worldwide. The English language translation was entitled ''Fables of the Green Forest
is an anime television series based on a series of books published in the 1910s and 1920s by Thornton W. Burgess which ran on the Japanese network Fuji Television from 7 January 1973 to 30 December 1973. It consists of 52 episodes and was pr ...
''.
* John Crowley's novel ''Little, Big
''Little, Big: or, The Fairies' Parliament'' is a contemporary fantasy novel by John Crowley, published in 1981. It won the World Fantasy Award in 1982.
Plot
Turn-of-the-century American architect John Drinkwater begins to suspect that within ...
'' (1980) includes allusions to locations and characters in Burgess' stories.
Books
References
Sources
* Library of Congress Catalog No. 60-11637
*
*
*
Further reading
* Lowrance, Christine Palmer. ''Nature's Ambassador: The Legacy of Thornton W. Burgess'', Schiffer Publishing,
External links
*
*
*
*
*
Works by Thornton Burgess
at Hathi Trust Digital Library
HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digitized locally ...
The Thornton W. Burgess Society
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Thornton
1874 births
1965 deaths
American children's writers
American conservationists
People from Hampden, Massachusetts
People from Sandwich, Massachusetts