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Finding Aid

Robert Burns Papers, 1950s to 1990s

UM-106

Size: 1.25 linear feet

Provenance: Robert Burns, October 15th 2001

Access: Open

Related Collections:  

Processing Note:

Condition: Good to Fair

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns.  Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code.  The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by: Savannah Xaver, December 22, 2015

Historical/Biographical Sketch

Robert Burns, professor emeritus of psychology, was born on November 14th, 1916. A native of the Toledo area, Burns attended Scott High School before attending the University of Toledo. While enrolled at the University, Burns worked as a student assistant in the Evening Sessions and in the Opportunity School Office beginning in 1936. He received his B.A. in psychology before enlisting briefly in the U.S. Air Force in 1941. After being discharged from the Air Force, Burns returned to the University of Toledo in 1946 as the Assistant Director of evening sessions, the Assistant Director of Alumni Relations, and the Assistant Editor of the University Bulletin.

Burns received his masters from the University of Toledo in 1950 and in 1951 gained the rank of assistant professor of psychology. He then became an associate professor in 1957. At this time he was also attending the University of Michigan and earned his Ph.D. in psychology in 1966. While at UT, he taught multiple courses in industrial psychology and focused on teaching the effects of aging. After studying gerontology, the study of social, psychological, and biological factors in humans, he began teaching his own courses with an influence of gerontology. Dr. Burns also initiated and directed the Continuing Education Program in Aging for 10 years.

Dr. Burns was very active in his community when it came to helping pre-retirees, retirees, and seniors; he even assisted in the establishment of Toledo’s first senior center. He was then named, in 1971, one of the governor’s delegates to the first White House Conference on Aging, which he continued to express interest in for several more years.

In addition to teaching, Dr. Burns was a licensed psychologist and a member of several organizations such as the American Psychological Association, the Ohio Psychological Association, the American Gerontological Association, Phi Delta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi. After retiring from the University of Toledo in 1986, Dr. Burns and his wife traveled the world, eventually settling in Florida. Dr. Robert Burns died on June 7th, 2013 at the age of 96.

Scope and Content Note

Collection contains information on numerous activities and organizations that Robert Burns was associated with. These range from his involvement with the Conference on Aging to his activeness as a UT alumni. Also included are copies of his undergrad thesis and doctorate dissertation. The collection is separated into five series: Alumni Association, Catalogs and Bulletins, Conferences on Aging, Miscellaneous Materials, and Psychology and Philosophy. Each series is arranged alphabetically unless dates are the predominant information in which case they are arranged chronologically.

Larger materials were placed in a second box, such as a record, a stamp depicting the University Hall Tower and Block House, and entire newspapers.

 
Series List

Folder List