Clara Burdette
{{Short description|American clubwoman and philanthropist}}
{{distinguish|text=Clara Burdett, mother of Francis Money-Coutts}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Clara Burdette
| image = Clara Burdette (1903).png
| alt =
| caption = Clara Burdette, 1903
| birth_name = Clara Bradley
| birth_date = {{birth date|1855|7|22|mf=y}}
| birth_place = East Bloomfield, New York]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1954|1|6|1855|7|22|mf=y}}
| death_place = Los Angeles County, California
| nationality = American
| alma_mater = Syracuse University
| other_names =
| occupation = Suffragist, Pastoress
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse =
}}
Clara Bradley Baker Wheeler Burdette (July 22, 1855 — January 6, 1954) was an American clubwoman and philanthropist based in Pasadena, California. She was the first president of the California Federation of Women's Clubs.
Early life
Clara Bradley was born in East Bloomfield, New York, the daughter of Albert H. Bradley and Laura Coville Bradley. She attended Syracuse University, graduating in the class of 1876.John William Leonard, Albert Nelson Marquis, eds., [https://books.google.com/books?id=eX0QOpl7iBQC&dq=Clara+Bradley+Baker&pg=PA258 Who's Who in America] (Marquis Who's Who 1908): 258. She was one of the founders of the Alpha Phi sorority while she was a student at Syracuse.Jane Bancroft Robinson, [https://books.google.com/books?id=h_jOAAAAMAAJ&dq=Clara+Bradley+Burdette&pg=PA249 "Impressions of the Convention"] The Alpha Phi Quarterly (September 1922): 249-251.[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/164831370/9995751D4F904345PQ/4 "Founder to be Feted at Alpha Phi Conclave"] Los Angeles Times (June 9, 1938): D2.
Career
Clara Burdette was the first president of the California Federation of Women's Clubs when it was founded in 1900.Gayle Gullett, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3zSvEysJdswC&dq=Clara+Bradley+Burdette&pg=PA114 Becoming Citizens: The Emergence and Development of the California Women's Movement, 1880-1911] (University of Illinois Press 2000): 114-115. {{ISBN|9780252093319}} She was also an officer of the General Federation of Women's Clubs from 1902 to 1904.Franklin Harper, ed., [https://books.google.com/books?id=vV4DAAAAYAAJ&dq=Clara+Bradley+Baker&pg=PA83 Who's Who on the Pacific Coast] (Harper Publishing 1913): 83. She was active in politics, including the 1932 presidential campaign of Herbert Hoover,[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/163049613/9995751D4F904345PQ/19 "Club Woman Lauds Hoover"] Los Angeles Times (October 3, 1932): A1. and in Pasadena social life. She was a major backer of the Pasadena Maternity Hospital.[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/166116833/9995751D4F904345PQ/10 "Philanthropist to Mark her 95th Birthday Today"] Los Angeles Times (July 22, 1950): A5. She was a founder, second president, and life member of the Ebell Club, a women's social and philanthropic organization in Los Angeles.Crete Cage, [https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/164791920/9995751D4F904345PQ/6 "Orderliness Guides Life of Clara Burdette"] Los Angeles Times (January 2, 1938): F5. She was director of the Southwest Museum and the Pasadena Humane Society. After suffrage was gained, she was an organizer of the national League of Women Voters and the Women's Legislative Council of California.[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/166589741/9995751D4F904345PQ/2 "Dr. Clara Burdette, 98, Women's Leader, Dies"] Los Angeles Times (January 7, 1954): A1.
With her third husband and others, she was a founder of Temple Baptist Church in Los Angeles. As a pastor's wife, or "Pastoress" (her preferred title), she was busy in the life of the congregation, organizing the women's activities and serving on numerous committees, and taking a leading role in building the Philharmonic Auditorium, which would house the large congregation and become a major venue for musical and cultural events in Los Angeles.Catherine Parsons Smith, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vyfe1BwwzzgC&q=Burdette&pg=PA98 Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular] (University of California Press 2007): 97-104. {{ISBN|9780520933835}} She wrote a book about her third husband and their church work together, The Rainbow and the Pot of Gold (1908).Clara Bradley Burdette, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6T7SAAAAMAAJ The Rainbow and the Pot of Gold] (Clara Vista Press 1908). She also edited some of her writings as Robert J. Burdette, His Message (1923).[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/103112844/9995751D4F904345PQ/12 "Brief Reviews: Robert J. Burdette, His Message Edited by His Wife, Clara B. Burdette"] New York Times (March 4, 1923): BR20.
During World War I, she was involved with flood conservation in California, and was California field secretary for the Council of National Defense.[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/162378942/9995751D4F904345PQ/13 "Woman Leader Gathers Bells"] Los Angeles Times
(October 6, 1930): A8. In 1926, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Syracuse University.[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/161824939/9995751D4F904345PQ/18 "Honor for Woman of Pasadena"] Los Angeles Times (June 26, 1926): A2.
Personal life
Clara Bradley married three times.[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/113159654/9995751D4F904345PQ/3 "Dr. Clara Burdette, Noted Clubwoman"] New York Times (January 7, 1954): 31. She first married, in 1878, Nathaniel Milman Wheeler, a professor of Greek literature; they had a son, Roy B. Wheeler. The Wheelers moved to California for Professor Wheeler's health, but he died there in 1886. She married a second time, to Col. Presley Calvert Baker, in 1890; he died in 1893. In 1899 she married Robert Jones Burdette, a humor writer and lecturer who became an ordained Baptist minister. She was widowed a third time when Burdette died in 1914. She died in 1954, aged 98 years.[https://www.proquest.com/news/docview/166587144/9995751D4F904345PQ/1 "Dr. Clara Burdette"] Los Angeles Times (January 12, 1954): A4. Her papers are archived at the Huntington Library.[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf0n39n460/ Clara Bradley Burdette Papers: Finding Aid], Huntington Library, San Marino CA.
File:Clara Bradley Baker, Mrs. Robert J. Burdette, Who's who among the women of California.jpg
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- Bradford Caslon, [http://oldhomesoflosangeles.blogspot.com/2013/06/robert-clara-burdette-891-s-orange.html "Robert & Clara Burdette, 891 S. Orange Grove Blvd. Pasadena"] A Look Back at Vintage Los Angeles (June 22, 2013); blog post including many photographs of the Burdettes' home in Pasadena.
- Dorothy Grace Miller, Within the Bounds of Propriety: Clara Burdette and the Women's Movement (PhD dissertation, University of California, Riverside, 1984).
- {{Find a Grave|27268233}}
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Category:Philanthropists from New York (state)
Category:Syracuse University alumni
Category:People from Pasadena, California
Category:American women in World War I