Title: Alexander C. Burr Papers, 1940-1977

ID: OGLMC998

Primary Creator: Burr, Alexander C.

Extent: 0.5 Linear Feet

Date Acquired: 12/01/1984

Subjects: Energy

Languages: English

The Alexander C. Burr Papers, 1940-1977, consist mainly of miscellaneous reports from the 1950s regarding North Dakota lignite and other state natural resources. Also included is a statistical analysis of Charles Carothers' participation in the first North Dakota Constitutional Convention in 1889. Carothers was the youngest member of the Convention and Burr's maternal uncle.

Separated and accessioned as individual collections are copies of the Polish Review (OGL 1183) and the Netherlands News and Netherlands News Digest (OGL 1184). Each of these serials was published during World War II and was designed to make the American public aware of the plight of Nazi occupied countries.

Alexander C. Burr, son of North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Alexander G. Burr, was born March 21, 1901, in Bottineau, North Dakota. Burr graduated from Rugby High School and received a B.A. from Jamestown College in North Dakota, a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan, and an engineering certificate from the University of Munich, Germany. He was dean of faculty at Jamestown College from 1938 to 1942. He then did research for the North Dakota State Industrial Commission's war effort and became director of research for the North Dakota Research Foundation in 1943. Burr's engineering expertise was utilized when he took a leave of absence from the Research Foundation to become supervising engineer for two major energy research projects: the construction of the lignite gasification plant in Grand Forks in 1947 and the U.S. Bureau of Mines Lignite Research Laboratory in 1949. In 1949, he was also Chief of the U.S. Bureau of Mines Region 5 Fuels Technology Division. He resigned this post in 1953 to resume the directorship of the North Dakota Research Foundation in Bismarck. He continued in this capacity until the Research Foundation was superceded by the State Economic Development Commission in 1957 and technical research was no longer its emphasis.

Burr was active in professional engineering societies. He organized and was the first president of the North Dakota Society of Professional Engineers. He was also chair of the North Dakota State Board for the Registration of Professional Engineers and active in the National Society of Professional Engineers, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the American Chemical Society. Alexander C. Burr died August 30, 1977, in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Energy

Repository: Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections

Access Restrictions: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections.

Acquisition Source: Mrs. Alexander C. Burr, Bismarck, North Dakota

Acquisition Method:

Donation; 84-1341

1935 journal/diary of his father; 2021-3448

Separated Materials:

UND yearbooks (1904 and 1906) were removed and placed in storage.

Journal of the Constitutional Convention for North Dakota, 1889, was cataloged.

Preferred Citation: (Description of Item). Alexander C. Burr Papers. OGLMC 998, Box #, Folder #. Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.

Finding Aid Revision History: Finding aid added to Archon in July 2012.