Burton F. Beers Papers 1919, 1950-2013

Burton F. Beers (1927-2016) was an expert on United States Far Eastern policy, and served as professor of Asian Studies in the Department of History at North Carolina State University, 1955-1995. Beers received an undergraduate degree from Hobart College and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history from Duke University in 1952 and 1956 respectively. He was a Fellow in East Asian Studies at the Ford Foundation, Harvard University, in 1959-1960, and a Fulbright Lecturer at the National Taiwan University in 1966-1967. At North Carolina State University, Beers was named Alumni Distinguished Professor in 1970; received the Alexander Quarles Holladay Medal for Excellence, the highest honor given by the university to its faculty members, in 1992; and was awarded the Watauga Medal for significant contributions to the advancement of the university in 1998. In 1993 Dr. Beers received the Christopher Crittenden Memorial Award from the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association for his contributions to North Carolina history.

Beers served as editor-in-chief for two school textbooks—-World History: Patterns of Civilization and Living in Our World. He revised a well-known textbook, The Far East, originally written by his major professor, Paul Clyde. He was a member of the education advisory board of the Asia Society.

Beers was born in Chemung, New York, on September 13, 1927, the son of the late Alice W. and Franklyn M. Beers. He died in 2016 in Greenville, North Carolina. His wife of sixty-two years, Pauline Cone Beers, died in 2015. They were survived by a daughter, Martha Ann Beers Williams; a son, Burton F. Beers, Jr.; and five grandchildren.

This collection contains personal correspondence, records of Burton F. Beers' tenure as a Fulbright Scholar, material relating to Beers' books, articles on Chinese-American relations, correspondence related to Beers' travels to various Asian countries, information on the North Carolina-China Council of the Asia Society, records of the Asian Curriculum Projects, notes and clippings on the Triangle East Asia Center, and university-related materials.

Materials arranged in the order received; this collection has not yet received full archival processing.

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[Identification of item], Burton F. Beers Papers, MC 00176, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Gift 1985-1995. Gift of Burton Beers, 2015 (Accession 2015.0079); Gift of the family of Burton Beers, 2016 (Accession 2016.0150)

Processed by: Kellie Strickland, 2009; machine-readable finding aid created by: Kellie Strickland, 2009. Finding aid updated to reflect additions to collection by: Molly Foley and Gwynn Thayer, 2015 May; Processed by: Katherine Ledson 2020 Februar; Finding aid updated because of additions by Hannah Chapman 2021 March