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[Identification of item], William R. Burk Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
The William R. Burk Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library as a gift in 2010.
Processed by Meghan Lyon, August 2010
Encoded by Meghan Lyon, August 2010
This collection is minimally processed: materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.
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This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
William (Bill) Burk is a retired botany librarian, formerly at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also the historian for the North Carolina Academy of Science.
His mother, Lillian Marie Renstrom Burk, spent most of her life and career as a cook in Norwalk, CT. After retirement, she moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1983, to be closer to her son. After a stroke in 2005, she became a resident of Chapel Hill Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center. She died peacefully on April 5, 2008.
The collection contains 12 journals kept by William Burk about his visits to his mother, Lillian Marie Renstrom Burk, while she was a resident at Chapel Hill Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center. The journals are handwritten: 11 of them are in composition-style notebooks, while the earliest is on a yellow notepad. The dates range from July 2005 through June 2008.
In the journals, Burk meticulously documented every interaction with his mother, including his near-daily visits to her at the nursing home; her diagnoses, appointments, and medications; her reports to him about her mood, her activities, and her feelings; his observations about the care given to her and fellow residents of the center; his interactions with the nurses, doctors, and staff; and his thoughts and feelings about his overall visit each day. Burk also added email printouts, letters, cards, and other correspondence or materials next to each day's journal entry. These have been tipped-in to the book or glued on its pages. Burk continued the journals for several weeks following Lillian's death on April 5, 2008, adding condolence notes, obituaries, funeral and cremation materials, and final invoices from various medical facilities.
Also included in the collection is an undated black-and-white portrait of Lillian in Norwalk, CT, donated in 2010 by William Burk.
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