Ernest Joseph Burrus (1907–1991) was a Jesuit and a leading historian of northwestern New Spain, particularly the Baja California peninsula and Sonora. He made notable contributions by editing many accounts of the Jesuit period from European archives.

Burrus was born in El Paso, Texas, on April 20, 1907. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1938. The following year, he was arrested and expelled by the Nazi regime. After teaching for 10 years, he was transferred in 1950 to work at the Jesuit Historical Institute in Rome. He died on December 11, 1991.[1][2]

The documents he published, in Spanish, in English translation, or both, covered a wide geographical range, but focused particularly on northwestern New Spain. Among his most noteworthy book-length publications are a four-column history of the Jesuits in New Spain by Francisco Javier Alegre[3] and accounts by Jesuit missionaries including Eusebio Francisco Kino,[4][5][6][7][8][9] Juan María de Salvatierra,[10] Francisco María Piccolo,[11] Wenceslaus Linck,[12][13] Benno Ducrue,[14] and others.[15][16][17][18] Burrus also produced many articles for scholarly journals.

References

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  1. ^ Greenleaf, Richard E. 1985. An Interview with Ernest J. Burrus, S.J. Hispanic American Historical Review 65:633-655.
  2. ^ 1992. In Memoriam Ernest J. Burrus. Manuscripta 36:234.
  3. ^ Alegre, Francisco Javier. 1956-60. Historia de la provincia de la Compañia de Jesús de Nueva España, edited by Ernest J. Burrus and Félix Zubillaga. 4 vols. Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu, Rome.
  4. ^ Burrus, Ernest J. (editor). 1954. Kino Reports to Headquarters: Correspondence of Eusebio F. Kino, S.J., from New Spain with Rome. Institutum Historicum S.J., Rome.
  5. ^ Burrus, Ernest J. (editor). 1961. Correspondencia del P. Kino con los Generales de la Compañía de Jesús, 1682-1707. Editorial Jus, Mexico City.
  6. ^ Burrus, Ernest J. (editor). 1964. Kino escribe a la Duequesa: correspodencia del P. Eusebio Francisco Kino con la Duquesa de Aveiro y otras documentos. Colección Chimalistac 18. José Porrúa Turanzas, Madrid.
  7. ^ Burrus, Ernest J. (editor). 1995. Kino Writes to the Duchess. Sources and Studies for the Historia of the Americas 1. Jesuit Historical Institute, Rome.
  8. ^ Burrus, Ernest J. 1965. Kino and the Cartography of Northwestern New Spain. Arizona Pioneer’s Historical Society, Tucson.
  9. ^ Burrus, Ernest J. 1971. Kino and Manje: Explorers of Sonora and Arizona. Jesuit Historical Institute, Rome.
  10. ^ Salvarierra, Juan María. 1971. Selected Letters about Lower California. Edited by Ernest J. Burrus. Baja California Travels Series 25. Dawson’s Book Shop, Los Angeles.
  11. ^ Piccolo, Francisco María. 1962. Informe del estado de la nueva cristiandad de California. Edited by Ernest J. Burrus. Colección Chimalistac 14. José Porrúa Turanzas, Madrid.
  12. ^ Linck, Wenceslaus. 1966. Wenceslaus Linck’s Diary of His 1766 Expedition to Northern Baja California. Edited by Ernest J. Burrus. Baja California Travels Series 5. Dawson’s Book Shop, Los Angeles.
  13. ^ Linck, Wenceslaus. 1967. Wenceslaus Linck’s Reports and Letters, 1762-1778. Edited by Ernest J. Burrus. Baja California Travels Series 9. Dawson’s Book Shop, Los Angeles.
  14. ^ Burrus, Ernest J. (editor). 1967. Ducrue’s Account of the Expulsion of the Jesuits from Lower California (1767-1769). Jesuit Historical Institute, Rome.
  15. ^ Burrus, Ernest J. 1978. La obra cartográfica de la Provincia Mexicana de la Compañía de Jesús, 1567-1767. José Porrúa Turanzas, Madrid.
  16. ^ Burrus, Ernest J. (editor). 1964. Jesuit Relations: Baja California, 1716-1762. Baja California Travels Series 47. Dawson’s Book Shop, Los Angeles.
  17. ^ Burrus, Ernest J., and Felix Zubillaga (editors). 1982. Misiones mexicanas de la Compañía de Jesús, 1618-1745: cartas e informes conservados en la "Colección Mateu". Colección Chimalistac 41. José Porrúa Turanzas, Madrid.
  18. ^ Burrus, Ernest J., and Félix Zubillaga (editors). 1986. El noroeste de México: documentos sobre las misiones jesuíticas, 1600-1769. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.