We’re grateful to all the neighbors, friends, family, and groups who have encouraged us and have participated in and financially supported Voices of the Violet Crown, beginning in 2003, and helped with the Violet Crown Festival Community Tent, which we coordinated from 2003 to 2010. Here are some of our special friends in the community and beyond:
Association of Professional Genealogists; Austin Film Society; Oral History Association; Society of American Archivists Oral History Section (page 4); Texas Oral History Association; and Texas State Genealogical Society, Inc., published articles about Voices of the Violet Crown, 2009-2012.
ATXplained Live at KUT Radio in Austin. The October 11, 2023, performance at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin included a segment on Austin’s moniker, “City of the Violet Crown,” incorporating excerpts from VVC research for the post “Just What Is a Violet Crown?” Special thanks to producer Juan Garcia.
Austin American-Statesman. Special thanks to writer Michael Barnes, whose writings continue to broaden Austinites’ perspective of our history, and to photographer Ralph Barrera, who took a memorable sunset photo of the Little Deli, among many, many others. We also shared research that was incorporated into several of Michael’s articles on local history, 2012-2014.
Austin Genealogical Society featured the VVC post “Just What Is a Violet Crown?” in its Spring 2018 Journal. Special thanks to editor Angela Doetsch for her interest in our project.
Austin History Center is the repository for our oral history interview DVDs, transcriptions, interviewee and interviewer release forms, films, history booklet, feature articles, and project files. The finding aid for the Susan and Rob Burneson Recordings and Papers is included in Texas Archival Resources Online. Special thanks to former Managing Archivist Mike Miller.
Baylor University Institute for Oral History, Waco, Texas, presented our film A Community Mosaic at its “Future Perfect” seminar, 2009. We donated a copy of the film to the institute. Special thanks to director Dr. Stephen Sloan.
Brentwood Neighborhood Association, Austin, hosted screenings of our films, 2009 and 2011; participated in the Community Tent at the festival; published Susan’s article on Esperanza School in its April 2015 newsletter, an article on the passing of longtime neighbors in its August 2018 newsletter, and other Voices of the Violet Crown updates since then; added Voices of the Violet Crown to its “Neighbor Resources and Organizations” web page; and added a Brentwood history section to its website in January 2017. Special thanks to Don Leighton-Burwell, John Halaburt, and Diane Larson.
David Butler, artist and Crestview neighbor, crafted hand-lettered signs for the Community Tent at the festival.
City of Austin selected our film A Community Mosaic for screening at the Faces of Austin multimedia program and Austin Public Library Lights.Camera.Austin film program, 2010, and the First Night Austin celebration, 2010-2011. The film can be viewed on the City of Austin website and on our website (see link above). In addition, we donated copies of our films A Community Mosaic, in 2008, and We Planted 115 Trees, in 2011, to the Austin Public Library, so they could be checked out. Susan also contributed history and photographs of the neighborhood to the City of Austin Community Character in a Box project for Crestview in 2014.
Crestview Neighborhood Association, Austin, hosted a screening of A Community Mosaic, 2008; provided exhibit space for our project at its events, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2016; has published our feature articles in its monthly newsletter since 2008; and added a Crestview history section to its website in August 2016. The CNA also participated in the Community Tent. Special thanks to former newsletter editors Kat Correa, Laura Cruzada, and Rick Von Flatern, who encouraged me to submit articles; and to Dave Considine, Nancy Barnard, Anne-Charlotte Patterson, and Mike Lavigne.
Crestview Shopping Center, Austin. Business owners hosted film screenings and sold copies of our films and history booklet, 2008-2014. We also donated copies of the booklet to several businesses to share with customers. Special thanks to Pam Harries, Crestview Barber Shop; Kathy Dunn, Crestview Beauty Salon; the J. D. Harper family, former owners of Crestview Pharmacy; Mona Lee Fultz, BriteLites Acting Studio; and Ronnie Prellop, former owner of Crestview Minimax IGA. Thanks also to Project Transitions/Top Drawer for providing display space for our neighborhood history exhibit during Crestview Neighborhood Association’s annual ice cream social at the shopping center in 2015 and 2016.
Al Evans, software designer, photographer, musician, and all-around good neighbor. He inspired me in the way he captured the heart and soul of where we live in his many photographs and Facebook posts. Much more about Al here, under 2022.
Friends of Brentwood Park, Austin, provided financial support for our oral history interviews of its Leadership Team, 2010-2011, and for our film about one of its 2010 projects, We Planted 115 Trees, 2011. The Austin Parks Foundation, 2011, and TreeFolks Urban Forest Steward Training Program, 2012, held screenings of the film for employees and trainees, respectively. Susan also served as webmaster for Friends of Brentwood Park, 2012-2013. Special thanks to Hedrich Michaelsen and Emily Wilson for co-founding FOBP and to Leadership Team members Kat Correa and Denman Glober Netherland for helping sustain the group. Emily also coordinated Crestview’s Green Neighborhood initiative. Susan’s history of Hancock Creek, our area’s main waterway, was submitted as part of the documentation that helped Crestview become a City of Austin Certified Green Neighborhood in 2010.
Jes Garcia, for his knowledgeable and civil sharing of Austin history, through the “The Dazed Group/Austin Edition-Pieces Of The Past” Facebook page, and for his encouragement of our local history work, including Voices of the Violet Crown. He co-founded the Dazed Group page and is its administrator.
Juan Garcia, Producer, KUT ATXplained project, for asking Austinites “Just What Is a Violet Crown” and incorporating some of Susan’s answers into the ATXplained Live presentation at Paramount Theater, Austin, on October 11, 2023. Inspired by all he learned, he also got a Domino the Violet Crown Pig tattoo.
Jean Graham, lead artist on the mosaic Wall of Welcome project and a Brentwood neighbor. Jean’s vision for the wall inspired Susan to help support the project as a co-founder and volunteer at the Violet Crown Festival and Violet Crown Community Works, both initially created to raise funds for the wall, until it was completed in 2008. Susan also helped with publicity coordinating the Community Tent (and later the Welcome Tent) at early festivals and the Wall of Welcome dedication. The tent featured neighborhood history and resources and a Wall of Welcome display. Jean and Susan also shared information and encouraged each other as they carried out their individual projects, including gathering and preserving local history and the stories of neighbors. As a Violet Crown Community Works board member, Susan helped promote the Wall of Welcome project in print and online publications and helped nominate Jean for the Bank of America Neighborhood Excellence Initiative Award and Austin writer Spike Gillespie’s Kickass Award, which Jean received in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Susan and Rob created the film First Night W/Domino & Friends (2006), which helped document Jean’s First Night Austin project in December 2005. A screening of the film was part of a Violet Crown/Domino the Pig display Susan and Jean created for the Community Tent at the Violet Crown Festival in 2006. Susan and Rob’s film A Community Mosaic (2008) helped document the creation of Jean’s Wall of Welcome and some of the stories that inspired it. The film premiered at the Wall of Welcome dedication on March 29, 2008.
Graham Kelly Greene, filmmaker (including Attack of the Bat Monsters) and Crestview neighbor. Kelly assisted us with the soundtrack for our film A Community Mosaic in 2008 and with sound during interviews for our film We Planted 115 Trees in 2011.
Billie Herron, Crestview neighbor who first sparked Susan’s interest in the beginnings of the neighborhood, when Billie pointed out that our area had few trees in the mid-1950s when she first moved here, and she shared a photo from 1956 that showed a view of the Far West Blvd. area from Crestview and only a few newly planted trees here.
Valerie Korba, who helped coordinate the Community Tent for the Violet Crown Festival in 2007, as well as a VCCW-sponsored community potluck in 2006.
Wendy LeBlanc-Arbuckle and Michael Arbuckle, former Brentwood neighbors who helped coordinate the Welcome Tent and helped set up the history display at the Wall of Welcome dedication in March 2008 and later festivals. Wendy and Michael also were longtime financial supporters of the festival.
John Leffler, history consultant and professor and Brentwood neighbor. In 2004, John asked his friend J. D. Harper, longtime owner of Crestview Pharmacy, if he’d be willing to be interviewed by John and me. He was, and, as the three of us sat in one of the booths in the pharmacy, J. D. shared his broad knowledge of our area beginning in the early 1960s, when he became owner of Crestview Pharmacy. It was my first oral history interview, so I’m grateful to John for his encouragement and guidance. In 2008, Rob and I screened our film A Community Mosaic for John and his wife, Vivian Goldman-Leffler, at their home and appreciated the thumbs-up from both of them. Vivian also was a longtime volunteer in the Community Tent at the Violet Crown Festival. John passed away in November 2015.
Karen Lorenzini, Crestview neighbor who acknowledged and encouraged the hundreds of neighbors volunteering at the Violet Crown Festival and Violet Crown Community Works when she said in 2012: “If you have contributed your precious energy, sweat, and time to VCCW, you are appreciated.”
Ellen Murtaugh, Crestview neighbor who took the time to read our 12-foot-long neighborhood history at the 2009 Violet Crown Arts Festival (held that November in Crestview Shopping Center, across West St. Johns from her house) and let us know about a typo in another neighbor’s name. Ellen passed away June 19, 2017.
Neighborhood churches. Austin Bible, Crestview Baptist, Crestview Methodist, Faith Lutheran, Liveoak Bible, and St. Louis Catholic hosted screenings of our films A Community Mosaic and We Planted 115 Trees, 2008-2011. Many local church groups participated in the Community Tent, including Crestview Methodist’s quilters, whose members demonstrated their colorful craft. Crestview Methodist also featured our neighborhood history display as part of its 60th anniversary celebration in November and December 2013. Special thanks to Crestview Methodist pastor Reverend Linda Elford.
Neighborhood schools. Brentwood Elementary School incorporated our film A Community Mosaic and history booklet, From Abercrombie to the Violet Crown, into its social studies curriculum and also participated in the Community Tent. We donated copies of A Community Mosaic and our history booklet to libraries at Brentwood Elementary, Lamar Middle School, and McCallum High School. Susan also served on the Campus Advisory Council at Brentwood Elementary. Special thanks to Brentwood librarian Kate Slaten and McCallum librarian Jane Farmer.
Neighborhood senior facilities. We donated copies of A Community Mosaic and history booklet to the Retirement and Nursing Center and North Central Caregivers. Susan delivered the Crestview newsletter to the RNC and also provided older neighbors, who otherwise did not have access, with photocopies of our web and newsletter articles featuring them. North Central Caregivers also participated in the Community Tent at the festival.
Neighbors, friends, and family—both near and far—purchased copies of our film A Community Mosaic and booklet From Abercrombie to the Violet Crown, made individual donations to our project, and personally encouraged us, making it possible for us to continue doing oral history interviews and to develop the website.
North Austin Lions Club, Austin, hosted a screening of our film A Community Mosaic for its members, 2009, and hosted domino tournaments in the Community Tent at the Violet Crown Festival, 2003-2007. Special thanks to past president Seth Brower.
Oral History Association provided Susan with a scholarship to its annual national conference in Louisville, Kentucky, 2009. Susan’s article about the conference was published in Sound Bites, the Texas Oral History Association newsletter, in 2010.
Preservation Austin. In 2016, we were invited to contribute Brentwood and Crestview neighborhood history for PA’s 24th Annual Historic Homes Tour booklet. It was the first time the event focused on Brentwood, Crestview, and Allandale and included detailed neighborhood history in its original tour booklet. Special thanks to programs coordinator Lindsey Derrington for her kind words: “Special thanks goes to Crestview’s Susan Burneson . . . for her generous help developing this year’s tour. Her extensive knowledge of Brentwood and Crestview’s past formed the basis for much of the information presented here and was essential to our understanding of North Austin’s postwar history. We would have been lost without her.”
Richard and Sharon Hanson Charitable Fund, Columbia, Missouri, provided financial support for the development of our website, 2011. Special thanks to Richard and Sharon Hanson for their ongoing encouragement.
Slick Memorial Library, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, invited us to make a presentation on Voices of the Violet Crown, 2013. Special thanks to archivist Michelia Mason.
Allison Supancic, formerly with the Regional Foundation Library, University of Texas at Austin, shared with us her knowledge and wisdom on funding and other project support for Voices of the Violet Crown and for Violet Crown Community Works, when Susan served on its board.
Sustainable Neighborhoods of North Central Austin shared information about our project on its website and participated in the Community Tent. Special thanks to Steven Zettner.
Texas Media Systems, Austin, provided at no charge a DVD projector and screen for neighborhood film showings, 2008-2011. Special thanks to vice president/sales manager Terry Nixon.
Texas Oral History Association, Waco, awarded us the Mary Faye Barnes Award for Excellence in Community History Projects for our film A Community Mosaic, 2009. Susan served as a judge for the TOHA award recognizing outstanding use of oral history in individual documentaries at Texas History Day in 2009, 2011, and 2012; read more about it in the TOHA newsletter, page 3. She also contributed several articles to the TOHA newsletter. Special thanks to former secretary-treasurer Lois Myers and past board member Cynthia Beeman.
Violet Crown Community Works, Austin, featured our history and community displays, films, and information table at its neighborhood events, 2003-2010 and 2012, and contributed partial financial support for our film A Community Mosaic, oral history interviews, history booklet duplication, and website development, 2007-2011. Susan was a founding board member of VCCW, 2003-2007. With other neighbors, she helped create the Violet Crown Festival in 2003; she also designed and coordinated the Community Tent and wrote and designed publicity. Rob also served as a volunteer at the Violet Crown Festival from 2003 to 2010. Voices of the Violet Crown became a Bronze Sponsor of the Violet Crown Festival in 2019. Special thanks to founding board member Sandra Miron for attending the VCCW group facilitation at the Austin Dispute Resolution Center in August 2012.