Nostalgia
By Gwendolyn Danner
Harvard Herald
August 04, 1978
Northwest Herald, portions reprinted with permission
Copy courtesy Harvard Historical Society

"About three weeks ago, Nostalgia told you we were hunting any information available about E. A. Burbank, famous Indian painter who was born and raised in Harvard. Would you like an update on what information has come in? There have been queries to the "May I Help you?" column but this story seems to belong here.

Mr. Harry Diggins recalls Burbank as a member of a paper hanging partnership made up of himself and a man named Blodgett no relation, as far as he can recall, to the Blodgett family of which Esther Blodgett of WMCW is a member. At that time Burbank lived at 302 Lincoln Street in the house that has since been subdivided into apartments. I have no dates for this. [NOTE: There is presently (2004) no house numbered 302 Lincoln St.]

A letter from an Esther Smith adds another bit of information, and is so interesting that we will share the whole epistle with you. She Writes: "When I read the Nostalgia column to my mother who is eighty-six, she recognized the name of Elbridge A. Burbank before I read who he was. She said he was the artist who had done her portrait when she was about three years old. The portrait was not painted but was probably charcoal or pencil. It was done on a heavy paper and as I remember, and was beautiful. Each curl was vibrant. It was lost when we moved to California in 1930.