Burnham, Dorothy K.

Pessoa

Burnham, Dorothy K.

• Dorothy Kate Burnham

1911-2004

Dorothy Kate Burnham was born 1911 and educated in Toronto. She joined the staff of the Royal Ontario Museum as a draftsman in 1929. She studied archaeological drafting and general museum work, and trained in spinning, weaving, textile chemistry and costume pattern drafting. When the Textile Department was created in 1939 she was named Deputy Keeper of Texiles. She married Harold B. Burnham in 1944, and left the ROM in 1949 to raise her family. When Harold was hired as a textile curator at the ROM in 1959, Dorothy returned to work as a volunteer in the Ethnology Department. She later became a research assistant in the Textile Department. Upon Harold's death in 1973 she returned to full-time employment as Associate Curator and later Curator of the Textile Department. She retired from the ROM in 1976, and was appointed Curator Emeritus in 2000. She was awarded the Order of Canada in 1984 and an honourary doctorate from Trent University in 1998. She died in Toronto on October 24, 2004.

Burnham, Harold B.

Royal Ontario Museum

ON00259

2/21/2023 E. Thomas (Creation)