Olive Ann Burns Sparks papers, 1945-1990

Summary

Creator:
Burns, Olive Ann
Date:
1945-1990
Extent:
5.7 Linear Feet 14 document boxes, 1 oversized folder
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Olive Ann Burns Sparks papers, ms2776, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains correspondence, manuscripts of writings, clippings, and other papers, chiefly relating to Burns's novel, Cold Sassy Tree, but also relating to her career as writer for Atlanta Constitution and Atlanta Weekly.

Biographical / historical:

Olive Ann Burns Sparks (1924-1990) was a journalist and author of Atlanta, Georgia. She was the wife of Andrew Horace Sparks. Her only published novel, Cold Sassy Tree, centers on Cold Sassy, a town loosely-based on Commerce, Ga. where Burns grew up.

Burns was born in Banks County and later moved to Macon where she attended Mercer University. She transferred to the University of North Carolina where she graduated with a journalism degree in 1946. She wrote as a free-lancer and columnist for the Atlanta Constitution and then for the paper's Sunday magazine, Atlanta Weekly. Burns met her husband, Andrew Sparks, while working at the magazine he edited. The Sparks had one son, John A. Sparks, and one daughter, Becky Sparks.

In 1975, Burns was diagnosed with lymphoma, which resulted in her death in 1990. Cold Sassy Tree was written as part of Burns' therapy dealing with cancer, she said, as well as the height of her career as a writer.

For more information, see the article Olive Ann Burns (1924-1990) in the New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Custodial history:

Gift of Mrs. Sparks's estate, 1991.

Access and use restrictions

Preferred citation:

Olive Ann Burns Sparks papers, ms2776, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia libraries.