Archive research and professional genealogy
Clients include family historians, authors (print and web), lawyers (including in-depth research and serving as an expert witness), history and nonprofit organizations (including Oakwood Cemetery, the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society, Preservation Austin, and Austin Community Foundation), and media production companies (including the genealogy series “Who Do You Think You Are?”); 1998-present.
Community history
• Voices of the Violet Crown: Neighbors Creating Community in Central Austin, Texas; 2003-present. Founder/researcher/writer/exhibit designer/webmaster.
Oral histories
• Friends of Brentwood Park, 2010-2011. Researcher/interviewer/co-producer/compiler.
• Texas Association of Counties Past Presidents, 2009.
Researcher/interviewer/co-producer.
• Voices of the Violet Crown, 2003-2011. Researcher/interviewer/co-producer/compiler.
• Marjorie Morgan and family, 2003-2004. Researcher/interviewer/recorder/compiler.
• Coleen Grant Hardin and Richard Davis Hardin, 2001-2004. Researcher/interviewer/recorder/compiler.
Family histories
• Heart of Texas: Life Stories of Richard Davis Hardin With Coleen Grant Hardin, 2019. Researcher/co-writer/editor/designer.
• Mr. Rube: Reuben Henry Grant, 2016. Researcher/co-writer/editor/designer.
• McCall/Hutchins Family Album, 2010-2012. Researcher/editor/designer.
• Allinger Family Album, 2010. Researcher/editor/designer.
• Jim and Cora Dial: From Altamont to Aztec, 2007. Researcher/co-writer/editor/designer.
• Miss Emma: Emma Florence Smith Grant, 2006. Researcher/co-writer/editor/designer.
• Coleen Grant Hardin and Richard Davis Hardin, 1998-2020. Researcher/compiler/coordinator of archival collections and inventories of 34 boxes of family recordings, papers, photographs, and ephemera.
Films
• Winkel/Schuessler Reunion and Homes Tours, 2011, and Winkel/Schuessler Memories, 2012, produced 2021. Co-producer/co-editor.
• We Planted 115 Trees, 2011. Researcher/interviewer/co-producer/co-editor.
• A Community Mosaic, 2010 and 2008. Researcher/scriptwriter/co-producer/co-editor.
• More Voices of the Violet Crown, 2009. Researcher/interviewer/co-producer/co-editor.
• First Night W/ Domino & Friends, 2006. Researcher/co-producer/co-editor.
Multimedia projects
• ATXplained, KUT 90.5, 2023. Contributor, sharing stories, history, and images to help answer the question, “Just What Is a Violet Crown?”
• Art-on-the-Corridor Burnet Road project; a collaboration of the City of Austin Corridor Program Office, the City of Austin Art in Public Places program, and the Civic Arts team. Roles have included: Community Panelist, helping select and provide feedback to the artist(s) who create public art for installation along Burnet Road, 2022-2023, and Community Advisor, contributing neighborhood history text, videos, and photos to the project’s website, 2020.
• Across Age, Class, and Politics, Susan Burneson Found a Friendship That Lasted Decades; radio essay for Common Ground, a series focusing on bridging differences and seeing the world from another perspective, coordinated by KUT 90.5, Austin Public Library, and Austin Library Foundation; 2020. Writer/narrator/recorder.
• The Art of Oral History; presentation with website text, images, and video; Thomas Baker Slick Memorial Library, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, 2013. Researcher/producer/presenter with Rob Burneson.
• Julius Franklin Howell; presentation with music, voice, and images; 2005.
Researcher/co-writer/designer/audio compiler.
• From Abercrombie to the Violet Crown, history and community exhibits and companion booklet, presented in the Violet Crown Festival Community Tent and at other community events, 2003-2016. Researcher/writer/designer.
• The Bodacious Women, presentation with music and images, 2003.
Researcher/co-writer/designer/audio compiler.
Selected writings
• Voices of the Violet Crown, website content, 2011-present.
• “Voices of the Violet Crown: Fostering Community Through Oral History,” short-form article, Sound Historian, Texas Oral History Association, 2023.
• Hazel Veronica Farmer & Family, booklet with photos and posted online, prepared for the Eschbacher/Farmer Family Reunion, St. Louis, 2023.
• “2020: A Year Like No Other,” 2021; “A Green History of Brentwood & Crestview,” 2019; “In Memoriam: Emory Muehlbrad and Mae Waggoner,” 2018; “Esperanza School,” 2016; and other articles; Brentwood Neighborhood Association newsletter.
• “I Took a Risk When . . . ,” essay, PBS American Portrait: A National Storytelling Project, 2020.
• A Green History of Brentwood & Crestview, blog post and booklet, 2019.
• “Just What is a Violet Crown?“, Austin Genealogical Society Quarterly, Spring 2018.
• “Finding Common Ground in Community,” 2017; “Local History: The Farmers’ Market,” 2015; and other articles; Crestview Neighborhood Association newsletter.
• Brentwood and Crestview neighborhood history (pages 10-13), and history of Eddie Joseph’s North Austin Drive-in (page 37), 2016, Preservation Austin Historic Homes Tour booklet. Edited versions of these histories were added to the Crestview Neighborhood Association website in 2016 and Brentwood Neighborhood Association website in 2017.
• “Great Winds Across the Sky,” essay, 2013, Story Circle Journal, Story Circle Network.
• “Voices of the Violet Crown: Neighbors Creating Community in Central Austin, Texas,” 2012, Dialogue: The Newsletter of the Oral History Section, Society of American Archivists. Other articles about Voices of the Violet Crown were published in 2012 in the OHA Newsletter, Oral History Association, and Stirpes, Texas State Genealogical Society, Inc.
• “Hancock Creek/Arroyo Seco,” history of a local waterway, 2010. The document was submitted with Crestview’s application for a City of Austin Green Neighborhood designation, was published in five installments in the Crestview Neighborhood Association newsletter, and appears on the Voices of the Violet Crown website.
• “A Woman Who Loved Animals Leaves a Legacy in Austin,” essay, Austin American-Statesman, 2009.
• “Roast of the Century: Mescal and the Mescalero Apache,” article, by Mark Rosacker and Susan Burneson, Bulletin of Primitive Technology, #8, Fall 1994.
Recognition
• Writing Award, First Place, Books by a Professional / Family History; Texas State Genealogical Society, 2019.
• Mary Faye Barnes Award for Excellence in Community History Projects (with Rob Burneson), Texas Oral History Association, 2009.
• Master Teacher Award, National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, University of Texas at Austin, 1993.
• Special One-Time Communication, Four-Color Brochure award, International Association of Business Communicators, 1984.
Professional affiliations
• Austin Genealogical Society
• Association of Professional Genealogists (national and South Central chapters)
• Save Austin’s Cemeteries
• Texas Oral History Association
• Williamson County (Illinois) Historical Society
Community engagement
• Researcher, Oakwood Cemetery African-American genealogy project, 2022-present.
• Contributor, Family History Collections: Archiving Practices project, 2022.
• Contributor, Civil War Photo Sleuth project, 2022.
• Reader, “The Changing American South” fellowship, 2022; and “My Time” and “Real People, Real Struggles, Real Stories: Writing About Mental Illness” fellowships, 2021; The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow.
• Consultant, Brentwood/Crestview neighborhood history project, Brentwood Elementary School, 2021.
• Presenter, Gullett Elementary School Virtual Career Fair, 2021.
• Bronze sponsor, Violet Crown Festival, 2019.
• Consultant, Genealogy Intersession, Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, 2017.
• National Night Out host (with Rob Burneson), 2015, 2010, and various other years beginning in 1990.
• Contributor, Crestview neighborhood photographs and history, City of Austin Community Character in a Box, 2014.
• Webmaster, Friends of Brentwood Park, 2012-2013.
• Member, Leadership Team, Friends of Brentwood Park, 2010-2012.
• Judge; Texas History Day Oral History Award; 2009, 2011, and 2012.
• Member, Executive Committee, Crestview Neighborhood Association, 2010-2011.
• Member, Newsletter Committee, Crestview Neighborhood Association, 2008-2011.
• Co-founder, Community Tent and publicity coordinator, and event volunteer, Violet Crown Festival, 2003-2010.
• Founding board member, Project ClayPlay, 2007-2009.
• Founding board member, Violet Crown Community Works, 2003-2007.
• Silent auction volunteer, Empty Bowl Project, 1997-2007.
• Member, Review Board, City of Austin Grant for Technology Opportunities Program, 2004.
• Reunion co-organizer; Burneson/Schuessler/Vaughn/Winkel families, 1995, 1997, and 2000; Campbell/Smith/Stout families, 1998; Pillers/Kenner families, 2000.
• Researcher and writer; Haynes, Kenner, and Stout family histories; Randolph County, Illinois, Commemorative Edition, 1995; and Campbell, Haynes, Kenner, and Stout family histories; Perry County, Illinois, Volume 2; 1998.
• Newsletter layout artist; Useful Wild Plants, Inc.; 1993-1994.
• Brochure and poster designer, Hyde Park Homes Tour (Austin), 1983-1985.
• Newsletter layout artist, Hyde Park Neighborhood Association (Austin), 1982-1985.
Susan Burneson
Austin, Texas
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