The collection consists of a correspondence Series, a manuscript Series, and a subject Files Series.  The Correspondence Series runs from 1818 to 1911.  One group concerns Major Burnham’s efforts to obtain a pension, and the Treasury Departments responses.  There are numerous letters involving a dispute over some property left by Lucy McMurphy in New Hampshire in 1900.  Also included are several letters to and from friends and relatives.

The Manuscript Series contains material both published and unpublished, some incomplete.  There are several works covering Captain Burnham’s days in the army from 1862-1867, including service with Sibley in North Dakota, and later as an officer with a Colored Troop during and after the Civil War.  Also included are a number of short writings on Captain Burnham’s youth in New Hampshire, on his days as a Minnesota settler, and in the Minnesota Legislature, 1859-1860.  There are writings on such subjects as “lunacy”, Women’s Work in War, the Cincinnati Society, a farmer’s convention in Fargo in 1885, tree planting in North Dakota, the attempted lottery in North Dakota in 1889, equal suffrage, and the growing of wheat. 

The Subject Files Series contains financial and legal papers.  There is a framed 1828 draft by Major Burnham on the United States Treasury.  Also included are statements of expenses and various complaints sworn before Mr. Burnham as Justice of the Peace.  There is a copy of a marriage certificate, a certificate of Mr. Burnham’s appointment as appraiser of school lands in 1862, his muster-out roll in 1865, and papers concerning the will of Lucy McMurphy in 1900.
 
 

Separation Record

The following non-manuscript items were removed from the John W. Burnham Papers and have been sent to the section indicated.

Maps (Institute map collection, consult its map catalog)

 1864 Map of Minnesota and Dakota showing route of Northwestern Indian Expedition.

Broadside (Institute broadside collection)

 Bill of sale from 1855 for the homestead farm of George Burnham, Derry, New Hampshire.

Photographs (Institute photograph collection)

 5 Benjamin (Ben) Burnham family, Casselton, N.D.
 9 Captain John Burnham family, Wheatfield, N.D