PCL MS 205 Ludima Gus Burton Collection

Romance writer Ludima Gus Burton began writing romance novels in 1991 when she was 71 years old. She was published for the first time in 1999. To date, Avalon Romance has published all four of her novels.

The collection of 1.5 cubic feet dates from 2000 to the present and consists of draft and edited manuscripts, galleys, research notes and worksheets for the novels. Also included are two newspaper articles about her career as an author as well as an autographed promotional bookmark from her latest novel, The Wedding Cake.

Ludima Gus Burton transferred her collection to the Browne Popular Culture Library, Bowling Green State University in September 2002. The collection has no restrictions placed on its use for scholarly purposes. Researchers are responsible for securing copyright permission when using all unpublished and published works in this collection.

This finding aid was prepared by Mary Koslovsky in October 2005.

Ludima Gus Burton was born in Farrell, Pennsylvania and graduated from Farrell High School in 1938. She attended Hunter College in New York and Albany State Teacher's College (now SUNY) and received her B.A. in 1945. She taught in New York until her retirement in 1978.

Ludima and her husband, Guy, had three retirement years together before he died of a heart attack in 1981. She began writing romance novels in 1991 and her first novel was completed when she was 71 years old. This first novel was also her first rejection but she kept writing and rewriting. For the next nine years she worked at learning the craft of writing by attending workshops and conferences. Finally, in 1999, at the age of 80, Avalon Romance bought her first book, Only For a Year, and just three weeks later they bought The Tycoon and the Schoolteacher. The following year they bought The Love Potion. Hew newest book, The Wedding Cake, was published in 2005.

Her next projects include writing a romance novel in Polish and an anthology of the paranormal. She was recently inducted into her hometown's Hall of Fame for her writing accomplishments.

The Ludima Gus Burton Collection is comprised of 1.5 cubic feet of novel manuscripts and subject files that date from 2000-2005. The manuscripts include handwritten drafts of novels, manuscripts, edited manuscripts and galleys. These documents will be of particular interest to aspiring authors and researchers as they reflect the entire process of writing a novel - from first draft to the final manuscript. Ludima Gus Burton's research notes and worksheets are also included, giving the researcher a complete picture of the total writing and publication process.

Also included are two newspaper articles about the author which will give the researcher a personal perspective on the author.

Literary Manuscripts

Novel Manuscripts

2000-2005

Arranged chronologically

Three of Ludima Gus Burton's manuscripts consist of handwritten drafts, manuscripts, edited manuscripts, galleys and sometimes research and writing notes and worksheets. Manuscripts are usually segmented into parts of 3-4 chapters each.

Printed Material

Newspaper Clippings

2002, 2005

Arranged Chronologically

Includes two newspaper clippings about Ludima Gus Burton's career as an author.

Bookmark

n.d.

No arrangement

Autographed promotional bookmark for The Wedding Cake.