Maxwell Struthers Burt


Maxwell Struthers Burt, was an American novelist, poet, and short-story writer.

Life

Struthers Burt grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Princeton University in 1904. In 1908 he moved to Wyoming and founded, with Louis Joy, the JY Ranch, which would later become the famous Rockefeller Ranch of the same name. In 1912, following a dispute with Louis Joy, he established the Bar B C Ranch, a dude ranch. He met and married his wife, Katharine Newlin Burt, an author of Western novels, in the same year. Burt's son, Nathaniel Burt, was also a published writer as was his grandson, Christopher C. Burt. Burt was one of the people who led ultimately to the establishment of Grand Teton National Park when, in 1923, he met with other like-minded individuals at Maud Noble's cabin and began the process of gathering support to have the area come under protection by the Federal Government.
Burt's fifth novel, Along these Streets, was in the eyes of a much younger E. Digby Baltzell in comparison with some competing novels "... a far more sensitive portrait of Proper Philadelphia". This portrait, however, is being painted in opposition to Proper Philadelphia's conservatism, which the novel's main character, Felix Bartain Macalister, readily acknowledges: "...I think I'm what might be called a radical liberal, but I'm for evolution, not revolution." At the end of the novel, Felix escapes and finds himself on horseback in... Wyoming.
Burt's papers are housed at Princeton University.