author
Clara Barrus
1864–1931
An early woman physician who also became a memorable literary companion, she is best known for preserving the life and legacy of nature writer John Burroughs. Her work blends firsthand intimacy with the patient eye of a biographer.
1 Audiobook
Our Friend John Burroughs
by Clara Barrus
About the author
Born in Port Byron, New York, Clara Barrus was an American physician and author who lived from August 8, 1864, to April 4, 1931. She earned a medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine and worked as a physician at the state hospital in Middletown, New York.
Barrus is most closely linked with the naturalist and essayist John Burroughs. After meeting him in 1901, she became a trusted friend, companion, and later his literary executor. That close connection shaped the books for which she is best remembered, including Our Friend John Burroughs, John Burroughs: Boy and Man, and the two-volume The Life and Letters of John Burroughs.
She also had a place in the wider literary world: the Whitman Archive notes her interest in Walt Whitman, and collections at the Library of Congress preserve papers connected to both Barrus and Burroughs. Today, she stands out as both a pioneering woman doctor and a careful literary biographer who helped carry another writer's voice into the future.