Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on the 1st of September 1875, in Chicago, Illinois. He was the fourth son of Major George Tyler Burroughs and his wife Mary Evaline Zieger Burroughs. His middle name came from his paternal grandmother, Mary Coleman Rice. The family line traced back to Edmund Rice, an English Puritan who moved to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th century. Many ancestors fought in the American Revolution or settled in Virginia during colonial times.
Burroughs attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, before entering the Michigan Military Academy. He graduated in 1895 but failed the entrance exam for West Point. Instead he enlisted with the 7th U.S. Cavalry at Fort Grant, Arizona Territory. A heart problem diagnosis led to his discharge in 1897.
After leaving the army, Burroughs worked various jobs including a stint as a cowboy at his brother's ranch on the Raft River in Idaho during the 1891 Chicago influenza epidemic. He later managed a bucket-line dredge for the Snake River gold mining operation alongside his brothers Yale graduates George and Harry. When that mine failed, he took a position with the Oregon Short Line Railroad in Salt Lake City before resigning in October 1904.
By 1911, around age 36, after seven years of low wages as a pencil-sharpener wholesaler, Burroughs began writing fiction. His first story Under the Moons of Mars appeared serialized by Frank Munsey in The All-Story from February to July 1912 under the pseudonym Norman Bean. This work earned him US$400 and inaugurated the Barsoom series introducing John Carter.
Tarzan of the Apes followed quickly, published from October 1912. It became one of his most successful series. Burroughs immediately capitalized on its popularity through syndicated comic strips, films, and merchandise despite expert warnings that different media would compete against each other. The public wanted Tarzan in every available format proving the critics wrong.
In either 1915 or 1919, Burroughs purchased a large ranch north of Los Angeles named Tarzana. Citizens voted to adopt this name when their community formed in 1927. An unincorporated Texas town also took the name Tarzan in 1927 following the success of the silent film starring Elmo Lincoln.
Burroughs wrote popular science fiction involving adventurers transported to various planets including Barsoom for Mars and Amtor for Venus. He created lost island stories set in Caspak and tales exploring the interior of Hollow Earth within his Pellucidar series. His output included Westerns historical romances and jungle adventure novels alongside these genre experiments.
The Barsoom series began with A Princess of Mars in 1912 and continued through eleven books ending with John Carter of Mars published posthumously in 1964. The Pellucidar series started with At the Earth's Core in 1914 and included Tanar of Pellucidar written in 1929. The Caspak trilogy comprised The Land That Time Forgot The People That Time Forgot and Out of Time's Abyss all released in 1918.
Additional series included Moon Maid serialized in Argosy magazine from May 5 to the 2nd of June 1923 followed by Moon Men and Red Hawk later that year. Burroughs also produced Mucker series starting with The Mucker in 1914 and historical works like The Mad King published in 1914.
In 1923, Burroughs established Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. to print his own books through the 1930s. He planned exploitation across multiple media including syndicated comic strips movies and merchandise despite industry advice against such diversification. His strategy proved successful as Tarzan became one of the most successful fictional characters ever created.
At death he was believed to have earned over US$2 million in royalties from 27 Tarzan pictures making him potentially the writer who made the most from films at that time. His daughter Joan married actor James Pierce and voiced Jane during the 1932, 1934 radio series alongside her husband.
Burroughs purchased a Security Airster S-1 aircraft in the 1920s encouraging his family to learn flying. Later in life he applied for permission to serve as a war correspondent during World War II becoming one of the oldest U.S. war correspondents while stationed in Honolulu during the Pearl Harbor attack.
Burroughs strongly supported eugenics and scientific racism throughout both fiction and nonfiction works. His views held that English nobles formed a particular heritable elite among Anglo-Saxons. Tarzan reflected these concepts being born to English nobles yet adopted by talking apes called Mangani who expressed similar eugenicist views themselves.
In one story Burroughs depicted an ancient civilization practicing eugenics for over 2,000 years resulting in freedom from all crime. Criminal behavior was presented as entirely hereditary with solutions involving killing criminals and their families. Lost on Venus released in 1933 showed forced sterilization where unfit individuals were killed coinciding with when Nazis took power.
His unpublished essay I See A New Race explicitly supported such ideas. Pirate Blood written in 1932 remained unpublished after death portraying characters as victims of hereditary criminal traits including descendants of Jean Lafitte and members of the Jukes family.
An impact crater on Mars bears his name honoring his influence on real exploration efforts. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted him in 2003. By 1963 Floyd C. Gale noted an entire generation had grown up inexplicably Burroughs-less before reprints appeared through Canaveral Press Dover Publications and Ballantine Books.
Academic attention remains limited but includes Erling Holtsmark's Tarzan and Tradition published in 1981 alongside Edgar Rice Burroughs from Twayne's United States Author Series. Richard Lupoff contributed Master of Adventure: Edgar Rice Burroughs and Barsoom: Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Martian Vision. Stan Galloway wrote The Teenage Tarzan analyzing Jungle Tales of Tarzan.
As of 2025 a significant special collection exists at Oak Park Public Library containing rare editions correspondence newspaper clippings and old films. Much initial material gathered during a block party held in 1975 by CHEETAH Citizens Holding Exercises Extolling Tarzan's Anniversary Here compiled by Florence Moyer.
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Common questions
When and where was Edgar Rice Burroughs born?
Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on the 1st of September 1875, in Chicago, Illinois. He was the fourth son of Major George Tyler Burroughs and his wife Mary Evaline Zieger Burroughs.
What jobs did Edgar Rice Burroughs hold before becoming a writer?
Before writing fiction, Edgar Rice Burroughs worked as a cowboy at his brother's ranch during the 1891 Chicago influenza epidemic and managed a bucket-line dredge for the Snake River gold mining operation. He later took a position with the Oregon Short Line Railroad in Salt Lake City before resigning in October 1904.
Which series did Edgar Rice Burroughs create featuring John Carter and Tarzan?
The Barsoom series began with A Princess of Mars in 1912 and introduced John Carter while Tarzan of the Apes followed quickly from October 1912. The Pellucidar series started with At the Earth's Core in 1914 and included Tanar of Pellucidar written in 1929.
How much money did Edgar Rice Burroughs earn from film royalties?
At death he was believed to have earned over US$2 million in royalties from 27 Tarzan pictures making him potentially the writer who made the most from films at that time. His daughter Joan married actor James Pierce and voiced Jane during the 1932, 1934 radio series alongside her husband.
What controversial views did Edgar Rice Burroughs support in his works?
Edgar Rice Burroughs strongly supported eugenics and scientific racism throughout both fiction and nonfiction works. His views held that English nobles formed a particular heritable elite among Anglo-Saxons and depicted ancient civilizations practicing eugenics for over 2,000 years resulting in freedom from all crime.