Thomas G. Burton
American professor and specialist in Appalachian folk culture
Thomas G. Burton is an American academic and author with an interest in Appalachian folk culture.
Biography
Burton was born on January 7, 1935, in Memphis, Tennessee. His first degree was a Bachelor of Arts from David Lipscomb College in 1956. He then received a Master of Arts in 1958 and a PhD in 1966, both from Vanderbilt University.
He became a member of the Department of English of East Tennessee State University in 1958. He became a full professor in 1967, holding the position until he retired in 1995. He was appointed professor emeritus 1996.
Burton's book on snake handling, Taking up Serpents, was described as an authoritative study of the belief by National Geographic magazine.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q24436466. VIAF identifies the subject as 72978294. The Library of Congress control number is n88670432. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1935, 1956, 1958 and 1966.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thomas G. Burton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.